I arrived in Avilés on the eve of the biggest festival of the year, La Fiesta de San Agustín. He is not the official patron saint of the city, but he is the most popular with the public. It is a week-long party, with concerts in Plaza de España - usually until 3am - and a medieval market through the streets of the oldest part of town. It was quite a welcome. The Fiesta also provided the opportunity for some great time with a few of the relatives here. Antonio González Díaz took me to the livestock fair - more cows than I ever have seen in one place, from all over Castrillón - and Jorge Rodríguez and his wife Marivi took me to a cocktail party and concert atop the tower of the Niemeier Center and for the fireworks on the last night of the festival.
Ochubre, one of my favorite places in town, on Carbayedo Square, which was the livestock market until the 1930s. This building has been there since the 16th century, and for most of that time was the house of families who worked the livestock market.
Jorge and his Triumph.
A wedding at la Iglesia de San Nicolás de Bari.
My haul from my first visit to the Monday farmer's market. On 15 September 1497, Queen Isabella I of Castille and King Ferdinand II of Aragon granted Avilés the right to hold a Monday market - five years after they financed the first voyage of Christopher Columbus - and the city has held on every Monday since. The current market square was built in 1873, and Mercedes and her family sold their milk, butter and sausages from the farm there. I go every Monday, and seem to buy a bigger bag of produce every time.
The Ayuntamiento - City Hall - built in the 16th century. This photo is from outside Café Angel, where I have my cafe con leche every morning.
The livestock fair during the Fiesta.
The Moroccan market during the Fiesta, in front of San Nicolás de Bari.
A blacksmith in the medieval market on Calle La Ferrería, which was the medieval blacksmiths' street.
Fiesta stands in front of Palacio de Composagrada.
Fiesta stalls and la Iglesia de los Franciscanos Padres.
The medieval market on Calle La Ferrería, and in the ground floor of the pink building is my favorite restaurant, El Ñeru, which means "The Nest" in Asturian. The owner, Chus, even lent me his tools so I could assemble my Ikea furniture.
On Labor Day, I took a 16-mile hike along the coastal trail called la Senda Norte. It started in Arnao, where Antonio Rivas worked. This is one of the original manhole covers from that time, bearing the name of the company for which he worked, la Real Compañía Asturiana de Minas.
La Playa (beach) de Arnao. A coal mine stretched for a mile under the seabed, starting at this bay. The coal was pulverized and mixed with calamine ore to make the zinc. The building at the upper left, sitting on the bluff above the beach, is the castillete de mina - the entrance to the mine, where lifts would lower the miners down to the mine galleries.
La Playa de Santa María del Mar. There are many very nice little beaches along the Asturian coast.
A Camino de Santiago arrow in Santa María del Mar.
El Atlántico.
Trail markers.
Eucalyptus grove. They are astoundingly fragrant.
La Playa de Bayas, which is the longest beach in Asturias.
I don't know when I'll be able to eat lamb again.
An hórreo in El Plano.
Seventeenth-century church in El Plano.
An hórreo converted to a cottage near Playa de Munielles.
La Playa de Munielles.
La Playa de Santa María del Mar, on the way back.
The Senda Norte section from Arnao to Playa de Bayas.
1950s company housing in Avilés.
Back to the Fiesta! A concert in Plaza de España.
Calle La Ferrería.
Centro Niemeier on the last night of the Fiesta.
The singer in the Centro Niemeier tower.
The Centro Niemeier tower.
Jorge, Marivi and me in the tower.
The Friday after the festival ended, I went to see an excellent choral concert by the Coral Avilesino at the 12th-century church in Sabugo, which was the medieval fishermen's village outside the city walls.
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