Tag Archives: Ovieda

8 September 2015
Gijón and Ovieda, Spain: The Waves of History

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Gijón is the largest city in the autonomous community of Asturias in Spain, located on the Bay of Biscay.

Cimavilla (in Spanish, Cimadevilla) is the oldest part of Gijón.

It includes ruins of the old Roman settlement as well as interesting residential and touristic areas including a small yacht club.

This is an ancient part of the world, with evidence dating back 250,000 years or so to the first humans including homo erectus and the Neanderthals.

Later the area came under the cultural influence of the Celts, and Celtic influence remains.

The Romans arrived about 29 BC under Augustus.

The major event in the first millennia was the Moorish invasion, beginning in the 8th century.

The Moors swept through most of Spain and Portugal, but the defenses put in place by the Romans and the mountainous topography of Northern Spain proved to be difficult for the invaders.

This region became a refuge for Christian nobles, and the Reconquista,  the Reconquest of Spain rose from here.

We spent the day about 15 miles inland at the regional capital of Oveido. And as luck would have it,  we arrived on the day of the festival of Asturias,  which involved a bit of partying–the local drink is fermented sidra or apple cider, and a parade through town by an Asturian bagpipe and drum band.

Here’s a bit of what we saw:

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Text and images copyright 2015 by Corey Sandler. All rights reserved. If you would like to purchase a high-resolution image, please contact me.