The historic city of Oviedo
We arrived in Oviedo upon finishing our previous Camino, the Camino San Salvador. Pilgrims who have just completed this Camino can obtain a certificate called the Salvadorana and enjoy a free tour of the Cathedral. If you are starting your Primitivo after finishing the San Salvador or switching from the Norte, or even if you have only arrived from Madrid, we strongly recommend spending at least an extra day in Oviedo.
"Quien va a Santiago y no al Salvador, visita al criado y olvida al Señor," roughly translates to "He who goes to Santiago and not to San Salvador [the Cathedral in Oviedo], visits the servant and not the Lord." A maxim found in the Cathedral and our Salvador credential.
The Cámara Santa de Oviedo or the Holy Chamber of Oviedo, is attached to the southern transept of the cathedral and houses many venerated religious relics. In the 7th century when Persia invaded Jerusalem, Christians fled and took with them an ark (a chest) containing relics. The ark journeyed through Cartagena, Seville, and Toledo before finally brought to Oviedo to escape the Moor invasion of the Iberian Peninsula. It remained unopened for several centuries until 1075 when King Alfonso VI, several bishops and members of the court including his general El Cid, held a solemn opening of the chest. The most important relic was the Holy Shroud of the Lord, a linen cloth that covered the head of Christ after his death. King Alfonso VI then ordered the chest to be ornamented with silver with an inscription which reads “The Sacred Sudarium of Our Lord Jesus Christ” and it served as an altar in the Middle Ages. The original shroud is displayed three times a year on Good Friday, the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross (14th September), and on the octave of the feast (21st September). At other times, a duplicate is on display in the Cámara Santa.
Apart from being responsible for the creation of the pilgrim route to Santiago, King Alfonso II the Chaste also moved the capital of the Kingdom of Asturias from Pravia to Oviedo, his birthplace, a strategically placed city on the hills to protect against the Moors. He also built the Cathedral of San Salvador, the San Julian de los Prados church, and a royal palace. His successor, Ramiro I constructed the Church Santa Maria del Naranco and its neighbour San Miguel de Lillo. The Church Santa Maria de Naranco was thought to originally be Ramiro I’s palace and later changed into a church. These buildings altogether form the pre-Romanesque series of UNESCO World Heritage Site and we were lucky to visit some of them during our stop in Oviedo!
One thing that strikes us about the Asturians is that they are very proud of their history. There is a general theme we found in the tourist shops around the Cathedral: Don Pelayo, Our Lady of Covadonga, and Mafalda. If you have not heard of them before, you would know after a day in Oviedo! I mean, these souvenirs are pretty cute right?
Don Pelayo was a Visigoth nobleman who founded the Kingdom of Asturias in the 8th century. When rebelling against the army of the Umayyad Caliphate, Don Pelayo retreated to a cave where a hermit had secreted a statue of the Virgin Mary, hidden from the Muslim conquest. He prayed to the Virgin for victory. In the subsequent Battle of Covadonga (718 or 722), his army lured the Moor troops into a narrow valley surrounded by mountains. The Asturians shot arrows and stones from the slopes of the mountains, before Don Pelayo personally led some of his soldiers out into the valley. The Moor commander fell in the battle, and his soldiers fled. This victory, credited to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, marked the start of the Christian Reconquista of Spain. Our Lady of Covadonga is the co-patron of Asturias, and a basilica was built to house the current statue deep in the Picos de Europa. Her feast day is 8th September, which is also the autonomic day of Asturias. Don Pelayo is the forefather of all future Iberian monarchies.
Away from the Cathedral, we took a walk towards the Campo San Francisco (San Francisco Park). On our way there, we came across a Japanese vending machine (!) and Mommy was really tempted to buy a few things for our Camino. We then said hello to our buddy the movie director Woody Allen, but he didn’t talk very much, or anything at all really. He was a bit wooden? Apparently he had travelled to Oviedo in 2002 to accept a Prince of Asturias Award and his subsequent 2008 film Vicky Cristina Barcelona was partially set there. After leaving Woody behind (he was so slow), we crossed the street and hung out on a park bench with none other than Mafalda! The iconic precocious Argentinian character was very patient with us, she loves watching the ducks in the pond opposite! The people of Oviedo seem to like putting up monuments, I wonder if one day there would be a statue of me (Fuji)? That would be PAWesome!
Before we commenced our next Camino, Mommy went to pilgrim mass and received blessing at the Iglesia de Santa María La Real de la Corte (every Monday to Saturday at 7.30 PM), located around the corner from the Cathedral.
We stayed at the ApartHotel Campus (€48, studio for 2, no extra charge for pet). It is conveniently located between the Cathedral, the Church of San Julian de los Prados, and the cider boulevard Calle Gascona! There was a fully equipped kitchen in the studio and they provided a nice bowl for me.
Start of day 1 of Camino Primitivo!
Feeling refreshed after the previous night’s party on Calle Gascona, we started walking nice and early at dawn! We may have taken a few detours around Oviedo… as the Camino marker was a subtle tile on the ground and Mommy’s various different Camino apps pointed to slightly different routing out of Oviedo. We took the scenic view away from rush hour traffic, I’d say.
Route overview and statistics
| Distance 26.7 km | Average speed 4.6 kph |
| Maximum altitude 275 m | Ascent 602 m |
| Minimum altitude 38 m | Descent 746 m |
Getting out of Oviedo
The Camino Primitivo officially started from the Cathedral. It took us about half an hour to get out of the city into the outskirts where we saw the first camino mojón as well as route information. If you have done a different camino before, you will notice that the mojón in Asturias is slightly different! Here, the direction of travel is shown by the point of convergence of the rays from the shell. Have a look at the photo below, where the arrow was clearly visible. This is important to note, as many mojónes are not so well looked after and you may not always be able to see the arrow underneath the shell! Sometimes even the shell was barely visible. FYI, this system of mojón is the opposite of Galician mojón.
Highlights of day 1
Straight after leaving the bustling Oviedo city centre, we arrived at the idyllic countryside.
Ermita del Carmen (Llampaxuga)
About 7 km after we left the Cathedral, we passed a small chapel, the Ermita del Carmen. The chapel was open for quiet reflection and there was a beautiful stamp for our pilgrim’s credential!
Capilla de Nuestra Señora de Fátima, Valsera
Just after Escamplero, we came across this quaint chapel that was built in the 1950s to replace a previous structure that was destroyed in a fire in the 1930s. The original building dated back to the 15th century as a church dedicated to Santa Maria. The 1950 reconstruction was privately funded by parishioners who dedicated the new chapel to the Virgin of Fátima. Inside, the modest interior is complemented by a modern statue of the Virgin. Outside the chapel there is a picnic table and water fountain, perfect resting spot for peregrinos and peRRegrinos!
As we continued, we passed by some vineyards and watched cows grazing in the fields.
Termas Romanas de Valduno
Soon after we passed the village of Premoño, 17 km since we left Oviedo, we reached a junction and we chose to turn left to the village of Valduno where there exist 3 very important things for the Camino: a bar, a church, and a site of interest which in this case is the ruins of a Roman bath. The official Camino route was straight on/right at this junction, but if you follow us and also take the alternative, there is a shortcut to rejoin the Camino towards Paladín.
The Roman bath was interesting because we saw plenty of skulls burried at the same level as the foundation pillars! Did it also serve as a catacomb? Luckily there was a bar nearby. Mommy said it was sidra o’clock. While Mommy was getting her cider, I had to stand guard against a cat invasion! How dare it took my spot next to Mommy’s rucksack!
Grado
Grado is famous for its historic Casas de Indianos. These are grand period houses built in unique and exotic palatial styles with ornate facades, bright colours, and fancy gardens with palm trees. They were built by locals who had previously emigrated to America, mainly the Caribbean (Cuba) in the late 19th-early 20th centuries. Having made their fortune abroad, they returned home and built these mansions combining the styles of their adopted countries. There are plenty of Indianos style buildings scattered around Grado, there is even a little map by the local park. Too bad we didn’t have time to explore all of them, but we did sit for drinks and dinner with other pilgrims for many hours in Albergue La Quintana, one of the Casas de Indianos!
Accommodation and cost
Hostal Ca Teo (Av Vistalegre, 22, 33828 Grado, Asturias, Spain, +34 649 60 31 55). €12/person, no extra charge for pet. A no frills budget hotel on the edge of town. Good bed, good shower (shared). The downside was that it was on the north side of town, a couple hundred metres off the Camino, so we had to double back on ourselves at the first round about. The Camino continues to go south through the city.
Reflection at end of day 1
It was a great first day for us. The weather only improved as the day went and by early afternoon it was quite hot. We met a few pilgrims during the walk and arranged to meet up for dinner, where we met even more pilgrims! The track itself was not too difficult for a first day, there were a few ups and downs but they were not too steep. Mommy started to feel some niggly pain on her right lower leg so she would start using her hiking poles again – she was using them on the mountain stages on the Salvador but for the last few days they were acting as backpack accessories…
Until tomorrow!
