This Weekend is What We Were Hoping for When We Chose Oviedo

This past weekend was great. Despite the fact that the LL is still getting over her pink eye and the weather has been a bit cold and rainy, we've had the good fortune to be in Oviedo for the Festival of the Ascension. This is a long-running festival that coincides with Ascension Sunday. To celebrate, Oviedo hosts a massive celebration of Asturian culture. One of the taglines for the festival is "the country in the city." It has been fantastic and we've enjoyed the festivities. More details after the jump.

Earlier this week I was looking up some information on the Oviedo town website and came across a listing of festivals. To my surprise, a festival was coming up this very weekend. Recalling our experience in Cordoba with the massive crowds coming to see the patios, I greeted this news with a combination of excitement and trepidation. Would this be a fantastic event transforming our neighborhood into a cultural bonanza or the cause of crowds and congestion turning our usually comfortable area of town into a pain in the a$$?

I'm delighted to report that it was the former. The festival has events located all over town, but one of the main venues is the plaza in front of the cathedral just two blocks away. On our way to lunch on Friday, we witnessed stands being put up, bales of hay being piled around, and little pedal powered carousels being constructed. The plaza was clearly being transformed.

Oh, and now that I mentioned lunch on Friday, it turns out that restaurants around town, about 15 of them within a short walk of our apartment, participate in an aspect of the festival. They have a special ascension menu consisting of an appetizer based on local and fresh vegetables, a main course of a classic meat dish made with Asterian beef (called gobernada) that is rarely available on restaurant menus these days, and a dessert of Asturian cheese cake with cherries (this is not NY cheesecake). We took part in this aspect of the celebration and loved it!

After returning from lunch and the LL getting a nap, we decided to head back out to partake of more of the festival. While the cathedral plaza is very close, there was another festival venue just a little farther away, and it seemed like there were some more involved exhibits there. It's about a 15 minute walk. On the way we saw that the plaza venue was fully up and running. Dozens of booths with Asturian crafts of various types: soap, cured meat, cheese, toys, wooden shoes (people really wear these in the country here!), wool goods, knives, pottery, etc. All being sold by people wearing traditional Asturian clothing, which looks to be not just silly marketing to encourage the city-folk to buy more since the clothes look well used.

But the other venue (in an area on top of the train station) was bigger. They had several event-sized tents set up. One tent had musical and dance performances, several had information about agricultural pursuits in the region. And at least two tents were full of animals!! Donkeys, horses, cows, pigs, chickens, ducks, goats. The LL made lots of new animal friends and we all just had a great time.

Making friends with the animals

Mini horses

Such a friendly donkey

Saturday we spent much of the morning at the closer venue. We bought some sausage. Ate a donut. Ate some little rolls filled with chorizo. These bollos con chorizo are actually a major part of the festival. They had a parade in which various craft guilds marched in traditional dress behind a bagpipe and drum marching band. It was just a really nice little event. Saturday afternoon and Sunday we revisited the same venues. There were crowds, but not so large as to be uncomfortable or put anyone in a bad mood. Basically, I think this event can best be summarized as a weekend for Asturians to show their pride and celebrate the good things that the land and the people create in this section of Spain. Being in Oviedo for this event was unequivocally fortuitous. The negative aspects that can be present when such large events are happening were minimal, and what we were able to experience was really great.

The drum and bagpipe brigade

The march of the guilds

The guilds posing for a group shot

LL is very happy wathcing the parade

I think Oviedo is designed for such events to feel comfortable. Many European cities are this way, but Oviedo especially so - it is built for people to actually live WITH each other. Not under the literal same roof, but in contact with one another. We don't generally have yards here, or fences, or walls around properties. At least not in the old city. Instead, there are apartments very much built on top of each other. For people to get out and have room to stretch, they have to go to public spaces. To the squares. To the parks. To restaurants. To shops. While the apartments are pretty small, the size of the public spaces is very large relative to the population. In the US, we have more private space. Here, there is a greater amount of public space. And these public spaces are comfortable and well used. No need to have your own swing set when it seems impossible to live more than five blocks from a wonderful public playground. You have to rub shoulders with other people in the city. It is not necessarily conducive to building deep relationships, but it certainly does force you to interact with others living around you. It's different. And in my view very, very good.