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Spain: The five most beautiful towns in the north that you cannot miss this summer
It has cost him, but Avilés has managed to shed that image of a steel, industrial and even somewhat bland city that he has dragged for years to make way for a
much more attractive and cosmopolitan
vision
. And above all, much more adjusted to reality. To begin with, the third city of Asturias in inhabitants (84,000) after
Gijón and Oviedo
has one of the best preserved old quarters in the Principality, declared in part a Historic-Artistic Site, as well as an interesting commercial past with still visible examples such as its
medieval market
Mondays, which continues to be celebrated in the Plaza de los Hermanos Orbón since the
Catholic Monarchs
themselves allowed it
in 1479.
But if anyone is to blame for the aesthetic regeneration that Avilés has experienced in recent times, that is the Brazilian architect
Óscar Niemeyer,
responsible for the center that bears his name and which was inaugurated on the edge of the estuary just one year before his death. in 2012 with 104 years.
It is also his only building in Spain and "
his best work in all of Europe
", as he himself said.
The follower of
Le Corbusier
gave the project to the city on the 25th anniversary of the
Príncipes de Asturias Awards
after he himself received it in the field of the arts in 1989.
Woody Allen and Brad Pitt, fans of the Niemeyer Center
The work is a true ode to the curve and the reinforced concrete raised as "
a square open to everyone
, a place for education, culture and peace", in the words of the architect.
"This translates into spaces for all kinds of
artistic manifestations such
as
music, cinema,
theater or dance," says Moisés García Rubio, head of Communication, while acting as a guide.
It also reveals who Niemeyer was inspired by for the silhouette of the luminous
yellow facade
of one of the buildings: "She is a Brazilian woman lying in the sun on
Copacabana beach,
like the ones she saw every day from the window of her studio in Rio de Janeiro ".
Typical facades in front of the bridge over the estuary.
The visit to the center is reason enough to go to Avilés again and again, since its offer varies continuously both in its auditorium and in its exhibition halls, its
lookout tower
or its multipurpose open-air plaza. The complex has international fans like
Woody Allen or Brad Pitt
. The first has taken to his stage to the rhythm of jazz and the second, a confessed fan of architecture, "escaped incognito to meet him during a vacation in the south of France," García Nieto also confesses.
After his visit to the Niemeyer Center, the actor from
Malditos bastardos
was seen eating at
Casa Tataguyo
(Carbayedo, 4), a classic from 1845 set almost like then where you have to order sausage with potatoes and
beans with clams.
These are the dishes that his cook María la Tata served for 60 years to the dealers and ranchers who came to the
cattle fair
. "They are still the most successful," says its current owner, Juan Rivero. Already put, here are other gastronomic essentials of the city:
Casa Lin
(Telares, 3),
Casa Alvarín
(Alas, 2) or
Gunea,
in Cruz de Illas, on the outskirts, where the couple formed by Begoña Martínez and Pablo Montero propose a renovated Cantabrian cuisine in an Indian house.
A 17th century palace converted into a hotel
Both Allen and Pitt stayed in the best suite at the
NH Collection Palacio de Avilés,
a 17th-century building owned by the Marquis of Ferrera.
That was what it was called until it was transformed in 2003 into a
five-star hotel
with 78 rooms, a monumental spiral staircase made of marble and mahogany and original furniture from the 16th century.
It is worth mentioning its French garden, in which
Woody Allen
shot several scenes of
Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona
in 2008. In the culinary section, the
Sunday
brunch
at La Capilla restaurant stands out, with northern specialties such as its
green vegetables stewed
with cockles or its creamy mushroom rice.
The traditional arcades of the old town.
This jewel in the NH chain's crown is located a step away from
Galeana Street
, famous for its arcades, and in the heart of Plaza de España, an area known as
El Parche
since the 19th century, when its neighbors believed that a botched "by enlarging it to allow pedestrians to pass", recalls the guide Begoña López. With the hotel starts the route of palaces through the center such as those of
Valdecarzana, Camposagrado or Balsera,
current headquarters respectively of the Municipal Archive, the School of Art or the Conservatory of Music, with its varied program of concerts and even its own ghost, the of an English aviator who does not really know how he ended up in Avilés, but wanted to stay forever ...
Missing the
Valdés Theater,
one of the buildings with the best acoustics in Spain.
Its inauguration at the beginning of the 20th century confirmed the cultural interest of the town, for which it is known as
the Athens of the North
.
It was the time when the money came from the Indians who had made their fortune in America and was invested in these palaces ", López continues. He goes further, ensuring that
music
is the branch that most identifies the Avilés." That is why they call us musicians, "he adds.
Violins with two years of waiting list
As an example, in Avilés there is the workshop of the
luthier
Roberto Jardón Rico
(Domingo Álvarez Acebal, 4), one of the most prominent in Spain.
There he makes violins for clients like artist
Ara Malikian
with a two-and-a-half-year waiting list.
And that some cost 15,000 euros.
"There is no way to speed up the process because everything is manual. We work with highly selected wood and self-made varnishes through
natural resins,
as centuries ago, so we can only make four or five a year," he says surrounded by jewels. like that Klingenthal cello of 1760 or that
Mattias Neuner viola
of 1860.
The 'luthier' Roberto Jardón Rico, in his workshop.
The expert has brought many of these relics back to life by putting his
scientific knowledge
to use to get the most out of the instruments. "I have been working with
new technologies for
many years
and studying the application of modal analysis to musical acoustics; it is my passion."
The next stop takes us to charming shops such as that of the interior designer Susana Perancho
, Espacio Óvalo
(Sol, 4), a kind of museum of artistic pieces that mixes chairs by
Philippe Starck
with oil paintings by
Hugo Fontela
, the youngest artist in the city. Madrid's Malborough gallery, or "second-hand lamps from a flea market in Paris," explains Perancho with a copy in hand. At number 2 on the same street is
Askfor
, a
temple
of British fashion with temporary exhibitions. For items of sustainable design, from notebooks to ceramics or backpacks, there is
Betina Shop
(San Bernardo, 10).
The tour of Avilés ends in the
medieval
fishing district of Sabugo
and the
marina
, once separated from the walled area by the estuary through a wooden bridge.
This was where the burly
whaling
sailors lived
, of which the Avilesinos were also an institution.
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