Oviedo is a surprise, a small, green, rainy capital with an almost Alpine smell of woodsmoke and a history that begins with a king. In the early ninth century Alfonso II, called the Chaste, moved his court here and began building churches in a style now called Asturian pre-Romanesque, which is unlike anything else in Spain, with tall narrow proportions, round arches and decorated stone. The Cámara Santa is a chapel inside the cathedral of San Salvador, built to protect relics and treasures, and it still holds the Cross of the Angels, dated to 808, and the Cross of Victory, which belonged to the later king Alfonso III and became the emblem of Asturias. UNESCO included the city's early monuments in its list in 1985.
On the hill of Naranco above the city stand two more buildings from the same era: Santa María del Naranco, a royal hall that later became a church, and San Miguel de Lillo, a smaller chapel with strange, flat carvings. Santa Cristina de Lena, in the hills to the south, is another of them. All are well worth the ride, and the roads up to Naranco are pleasant and easy, with tight bends through oak and chestnut, and views over the city.
Riding in Asturias means rain, so be prepared. The weather comes off the Bay of Biscay and drops on the Cantabrian mountains, and the result is a lush, green country where the roads are often wet and the verges thick with ferns and brambles. When the sun comes out, it is glorious, and the mountains of the Picos de Europa and the high passes of the Cordillera, such as the Pajares, give some of the best riding in northern Spain. Oviedo itself has more than two hundred thousand people, with every service imaginable, and the old town is largely pedestrian. Leave the bike in a garage.
The Camino Primitivo, the oldest pilgrim route to Santiago, starts in Oviedo, and you will see walkers with scallop shells in the streets. Cider is the local drink, poured from a height in a thin stream to aerate it, and the city has a whole street of cider houses, the Calle Gascona. Order a fabada, the bean stew with chorizo and morcilla, and do not plan anything demanding for the afternoon.