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Avilés
«Avilés destaca por su importante centro cultural Niemeyer.»Avilés stands out for its important Niemeyer cultural centre.
Avilés is located on an estuary on the central Asturian coast, twenty kilometres from Gijón. It preserves a medieval centre of arcaded streets and palaces, and around it the city grew with the steel industry in the fifties; in 2011, the cultural centre designed by Oscar Niemeyer opened there.
Did you know
The only Niemeyer in Spain
The Niemeyer Centre is the only work in Spain designed by the famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.
How they talk in Avilés
«Avilesino» is the demonym and «ría» is a fundamental word for understanding local geography and industry. «Guaje» and «culín» belong to the everyday Asturian lexicon.
prestar
To cause pleasure or satisfaction. Daily use in constructions like «présta-me/prestóme» to say that something is liked or has given pleasure.
Everyday life in Avilés
The «Antroxu» in February
The Avilés carnival lasts four days and culminates with the «Descarga», where flour, eggs, and water are thrown at everyone in the square. You dress in clothes you don't mind throwing away, and you shower in the street.
«Ponte ropa vieja, que te manchan.» — Put on old clothes, because they will stain you.
The «soportales» of Calle Galiana
The old streets are almost all arcaded, because it really rains here: you do your shopping and have coffee without ever leaving the dry.
«Aquí no te mojas aunque llueva.» — Here you don't get wet even if it rains.
The steelworks can be seen from everywhere
The blast furnaces on the side of the ria are the city's horizon, and for three generations they have been the source of work: the factory shifts have decided the opening hours of bars and buses.
What to eat in Avilés
Bollos preñaos
Bread rolls baked with chorizo inside, which are eaten cold in the countryside.
Tortos
Small fried corn flour flatbreads, topped with stewed meat and egg.
Cachopo
Two slices of veal with ham and cheese inside, breaded and fried.
Festivals in Avilés
Fiesta de El Bollo
Easter Sunday and Monday
The «comida en la calle»: thousands of people eat at tables set up in the middle of the streets, and everyone brings their own bollo.
What to see in Avilés
Centro Niemeyer
The only work by Oscar Niemeyer in Spain, gifted by him on his hundredth birthday.
Calle Galiana
The medieval arcaded street, with stone columns and houses above.
Iglesia de San Nicolás de Bari
The Romanesque church with the portal and the chapel where Pedro Menéndez is buried.
Parque de Ferrera
The park of the marquises' palace, open to the public, in the middle of the city.
Where Avilés comes from
A black city that became white
12th century
The fuero
Alfonso VI grants it the fuero: it is born as a port and market with arcades.
16th–18th century
The palaces
Merchant families build palaces around the arcaded streets.
1950
Ensidesa
The steelworks arrive and in twenty years the population quadruples: the city becomes black with dust.
2011
The Niemeyer
The cultural centre designed by Oscar Niemeyer opens, his only work in Spain.
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