Sick Day: Oviedo

Wow, that was a killer headache. We were supposed to walk from Sebrayo to Gijon, a very long distance, just Google it and add about 10K because walking through forests and fields over mountains is always the longer way. This would be impossible with Kirsten´s hangover-like symptoms after a very hard night of not drinking. The albergue woke before dawn, rustling and zipping. We stayed in our awesome silk sleep sacks until most had gone. Two pilgrims remained, a man named Carlos Pablo and his traveling companion Ulia, a black German Shepherd mutt with a scallop shell hanging from her collar. He told us that this was her second Camino, the first she did while carrying 3 of her puppies in her own backpack. He found these puppies homes along the Camino and still goes to visit them. Carlos Pablo was writing a guide to the coastal route and was a wealth of information. He suggested that instead of Gijon, which was the beginning of a very industrial stretch of highway walking, that we go to Oviedo on the Camino Primitivo, a very old and historic section of the Camino and a beautiful medieval city. We had to walk 6K to the Villaviciosa, where we again met up with Carlos Pablo and who showed us the church and the bus station where we could catch a ride to Oviedo instead of walking.



We found the cathedral in the oldest part of the city, a beautiful edifice with stone spires in the main square. The church dates back to before 800A.D. Our hostal was a very welcome surprise on a low energy day, bright, clean and with fresh paint and new linens right in the Casco Viejo, which is what the antique sections of cities are called. It was a day of rest and recovery with a little sightseeing and a simple but incredible dinner. We found a lively cafe in the main plaza facing the church, where they specialized in tostas, large pieces of toasted rustic bread with various toppings. We had a huge platter of pimientos de padron (fried mild bitesize green peppers), tostas with fois with goat cheese, shaved duck liver with onion confit, and presa Iberica which is akin to carne asada topped with piquillo peppers and a memorable bottle of Rioja house wine, all for around 30€. Please, someone open this restaurant in L.A.