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| City of Aviles Coat of Arms |
My husband, Enrique, was a youngster when he first spotted the City of Aviles on a map of Spain. From that time until we actually arrived in Aviles on October 15, 2014, a visit was on his bucket list.
He had shared his dream with me many times over the course of our marriage so when it was my turn (even numbered year) to select a place to go to celebrate our 23rd anniversary, I chose Spain. More specifically, I chose a trip with fifteen other people including Enrique to walk along or be driven along the Camino de Santiago from Pamplona to Santiago de Compostela to Finisterre and you can read about that part of our trip at this highlighted link.
I've known for some time that Aviles is located on the northern coast of Spain and I also learned that the city is within a relatively short distance from Santiago (short compared to distances here in Arizona say from Tucson to Flagstaff). After making all the arrangements to get to Madrid and from there to Pamplona, I worked with an agent to arrange for our travel to Aviles and then back to Madrid for a day and a half of sightseeing before returning to the States.
I quickly learned that the fastest way for us to get to Aviles would be to drive; otherwise we would need to first fly to Madrid or Barcelona and then catch another flight up to Aviles, an all day affair. So, we rented a car. I spoke with the husband of a friend of mine who had driven in Spain who gave me some pointers such as the sign map for the exits on a roundabout comes before the roundabout so it's important to count the number of offshoots before entering the roundabout - it worked!! We had learned the difference between the route number and the speed limit among other signs during our trip while riding on the bus.
National Geographic had provided us with a map of Spain, a fabulous map of the Camino as well as an overview map of the region so combining those with the abbreviated map provided by Hertz in Santiago, we headed northeast first to Curtis and from there to Guitiriz on N634 and from there were delighted to find that we could access E(expressway)70/N634/A8 all the way to Aviles with opportunities to see the coast as well as to take a break for lunch. Incidentally, for those who aren't familiar with some of the features here, you can click on any of the images and you'll be provided with a larger, hopefully legible version so you can read what I'm referring to or offering you.
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| Asturias in which Aviles is located is on the north coast (in light purple) next to Galicia (bright yellow). The Camino for us started in Pamplona, Navarra (pale yellow abutting the border with France) then to Logrono in La Rioja (dark purple) to Burgos, Leon and Astorga in Castilla y Leon (orange) and finally to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia (bright yellow on the northwest coast). |
Above you can pick out Santiago on the left and then head northeast to Oviedo. Aviles is just north of Oviedo.
The western section of our Camino route is marked with the yellow scallop shells on blue background. Santiago is on the left and we headed out northeast towards the coast.
Once on the coast we headed east to Aviles, documented to be a thousand year old city. We drove through rain fairly heavy at times (again, the rain in Spain is not mainly on the plain) so we were grateful for the expressway with two lanes in each direction. At one point we went over a pass to a relatively high altitude and were warned about ice (not cold enough that day) but very, very windy with electricity generating windmills along the ridge. Wind socks are placed at key locations to warn truck and other high profile vehicle drivers.
Asturias gets lots of rain so the surrounding countryside is quite green. While driving, we were surprised to find Camino signs for the path along the route; perhaps the northern route.
We made a stop for lunch about 9 miles from Asturias Airport, shared by Oviedo and Aviles, turned in our car, and took a taxi into Aviles. Both the person at the Hertz rental place and our taxi driver had never met a person with the last name of Aviles. Our taxi driver offered to pick us up the following day at noon once he learned when we were returning to the airport for our flight to Madrid. He was wonderfully punctual.
[This is a work in progress as we sift through the hundreds of photographs of our entire trip. More will probably be added; some may be deleted.]
We arrived at our hotel - the NH Palacio de Ferrer in Aviles - and checked in. The hotel was originally the Marquis of Ferrera Palace and was built in the 17th and 18th centuries. The receptionist had never met a person with the last name of Aviles, either. Our room was on the top floor and we enjoyed a beautiful view of the gardens behind the hotel. Apparently we did not take a photo of the gardens - manicured and green!
The hotel is located in the older part of the city and as many paradores were during our trip, it shares a large plaza with restaurants, shops, and government buildings formerly also a palace. There are four former palaces altogether on the Plaza de Espana. The streets and buildings in the old part of the City of Aviles are designated an historical and artistic monument by the Spanish Government.
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| Aviles City Hall |
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| Looking towards La Fruta Street and from there to El Muelle Park |
We gave ourselves a slow walking tour during a respite from the rain so had a good look at the area. Later in the afternoon the streets and the plaza were quite populated with people leaving work and/or strolling.
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| Map and Directory from the Illustrated Tour of Aviles published y the Aviles Tourist Information Center |
I took several photos of Enrique so he'd have a record of actually being there. We didn't cover everything by any means given the weather but as you'll see from the photos and referring to the Illustrated Tour directory, we did pretty well. That evening the skies opened and poured so after an early supper at a place recommended by our taxi driver, we needed to run to the hotel and our room.
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| We enjoyed dinner here, the specialty being their cider and their skill at pouring the cider |
With Juan Carreno de Miranda, an artist during the Baroque period who focused on portrait painting.
In El Muelle Park
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| Fountain entry to Muelle Park |
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| Monument to Pedro de Menendez de Aviles located at other end of the park |
Another from the Museum, his portrait
And this historical summary, again from the Museum of Aviles
His remains are housed in the Franciscan's Church, his expressed wish to return to his place of birth.
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| Camposagrado Palace 17th Century design attributed to Menendez Camina architects from Aviles. Currently houses the School of Arts of Asturias. |
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| San Nicolas de Bari Church - the oldest building in Aviles 12-13 Century once a convent and now part of the Franciscan church |
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| Iglesia de Padres Franciscanos |
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| Close up of the wooden door to the right |
We learned later that afternoon that there's a museum about Aviles not far from our hotel so we walked over and explored three floors of photos, models, documents including the 11th century charter granted by King Alfonso VI, artifacts and video of the city from ancient times (fishing village) to modern (industrial city). We took far too many photos here and learned so much; what a wonderful museum it is!!
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| The Museum of Aviles |
The Museum is divided into three eras: ancient, medieval, and industrial/modern each assigned to a floor or area of the floor with explanations printed in both Spanish and English.
A diagram of the layout:
The city evolved from a fishing village to a trading port to a dusty town to a thriving industrial city. Many, many items and photographs of those items. Here are a few.
The third floor houses several artifacts and commentary, for example
The Museum is a repository for an amazing number of documents as noted in this commentary:
For example, the City Charter:
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| City Plan 1300's |
The Aviles geneology
A page from the book explaining the geneological chart:
A diary about a voyage to Cuba and conditions there:
A collection of books about Aviles:
A model/diagram of an Aviles house (we caught ourselves several times being startled by seeing the name "Aviles" everywhere).
The coming of industry in 1950.
The next morning we were directed to the Tourist Office and picked up a fact-filled booklet (both in English and in Spanish) titled an Illustrated Tour around the Casco Historico Comarca Aviles.
We even discovered the Mexican Embassy by first noticing this in a window
and then this
Too soon, it was time to get back to the hotel, pick up our bags and get to the airport to begin our whirlwind tour of Madrid. We both were so glad to have the opportunity to visit Aviles during our trip to Spain.
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