Oviedo, ancient capital of Asturias

It’s not every day that drinks are served with a water pistol. Sitting at a table outside the tiny El Paraguas bar in Oviedo’s Plaza del Paraguas comes with jeopardy though: an overly inquisitive pigeon. To deter said pigeon from landing on your table, a quick squirt of water is required, although I suspect that after a few drinks the water pistols might be turned on people at other tables or passersby.

This incident gives an insight into the quirkiness of a town that effortlessly combines the grandeur of Asturias ancient royal capital, with a large student population that is the reason for a buzzing nightlife centred on a string of bars in the old town. As the former capital of the Kingdom of Asturias, and one of the few parts of the country not conquered by the Moors, Oviedo is central to the story of the Reconquista and Spain.

Tucked between the mountains and the sea, economically poor Asturias was largely untouched by the Moorish conquest of Spain and Portugal that began in 711. The rulers of al-Andalus, as it was known, would occasionally invade and capture towns to punish incursions by Christian forces from Asturias, but mostly there was a truce between the two. This allowed the Kingdom of Asturias to exert control over Galicia and Cantabria.

The almost 800 year Reconquista that would end Muslim rule on the Iberian Peninsula with the fall of Granada in 1492, is said to have begun at the Battle of Covadonga in 722. An army from Asturias defeated a small Moorish military force and consolidated the independence of the northern Christian kingdoms. Soon after, Oviedo was founded and became the royal capital in 810, a symbol of the power of the Kings of Asturias.

This only lasted for a couple of centuries. As the northern kingdoms became more powerful, they invaded the Moorish lands to the south. The capital was moved to León when Asturias was absorbed into the Kingdom of León in the 10th century, and later the Kingdom of Castile in the 13th century. Oviedo’s early Golden Age wasn’t only because it was a royal capital though, it was also a major pilgrimage centre.

As the only part of Spain not under Moorish control, Christian relics, many said to have arrived from Jerusalem and the Holy Lands, were brought here for safe keeping. This added to Oviedo’s prestige and resulted in a chapel built in the early 9th century by King Alfonso II to guard the relics saved from the Moors. The major relic that drew thousands of pilgrims was the Sudarium of Oviedo.

A bloodstained piece of linen, Christian tradition claims it as the cloth wrapped around the head of Jesus after crucifixion. If this seems a lot like a Spanish Turin Shroud, some claim they were both part of Jesus’s burial clothes. Carbon dating suggests the cloth dates to the 8th century and is in fact a medieval fake. As the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela grew, the Sudarium was vital to capturing some of this lucrative trade.

The cloth is kept in the Cámara Santa in the Cathedral of San Salvador, which was built in the 14th century on the spot where the original chapel to house the relics had stood. It’s evidence that Oviedo was a major religious and commercial centre throughout the medieval period. This was despite the fact that it was still an isolated place on the wrong side of the mountains from the rich lands of León.

The medieval city still shapes the historic heart of Oviedo today with the Cathedral at its centre. Largely pedestrianised, it is the perfect place to stroll and explore the history of this lovely town. As well as history and ancient buildings, Oviedo has plenty of cultural and artistic highlights to visit as well. The streets are themselves an outdoor sculpture park, but for some of the best artworks head to the Museum of Fine Arts.

The Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias is not only free and housed in an ensemble of buildings that include the 18th century Palacio de Velarde and a modern wing that is only a decade old, it has some wonderful pieces in its galleries. El Greco. Picassso, Miró, and Dali are joined by a wealth of 16th century religious works from Flanders and Italy. Best of all though, the collection contains several paintings by Sorolla.

For a town this size, the Museum of Fine Arts punches well above its weight, but that metaphor could equally be applied to Oviedo as a whole. After we’d spent a few hours in the museum we met up with some friends who had made the trip from their family home in Luanco on the coast. A long and sizeable late lunch in Plaza del Fontán would be the prelude to our final night in Oviedo.

On the morning we left we visited Camilo de Blas. This gorgeous bakery and pastry shop is a living monument to the love of all things sweet. This is where Oviedo’s signature pastry – the carbayón – was created in 1924. A century later they are still as popular, although (thanks to their marzipan taste) not with me. I selected another tooth-achingly sweet confection to go with my coffee before we headed to Santander.