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Mieres
«Mieres está rodeada de antiguas minas de carbón.»Mieres is surrounded by old coal mines.
Mieres is in the Caudal valley, the other coal basin of Asturias, between Oviedo and the mountains. It lived for a century and a half on mines and steelworks, and the Barredo shaft headframe still stands in the middle of the houses instead of outside the town, as elsewhere.
Did you know
A stronghold of the 1934 revolution
During the 1934 revolution, Mieres was one of the main strongholds of the Asturian workers' uprising.
How they talk in Mieres
«Pozo» and «mina» have a concrete emotional and family weight in the Caudal valley. «Guaje» means boy and is heard regularly in spoken Asturian.
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 Mieres
The «cuenca» enclosed by the mountains
The town is at the bottom of a narrow valley, and the houses climb up the two slopes: from any street you can see the mountain that closes the horizon a few hundred metres away.
The «Antroxu» with the «bollu preñáu»
During carnival and outings people eat the bread roll baked with chorizo inside: it is prepared at home and carried in a basket, and in those days the bakeries do nothing else.
«Un bollo preñao, por favor.» — A bread roll with chorizo inside, please.
The «Campus de Mieres» at the bottom of the valley
The university has brought the mining engineering faculty here, and the students have changed the bars in the centre: in a valley that was depopulating, it is the only thing that has reversed the trend.
What to eat in Mieres
Casadielles
Fried pastries filled with ground walnuts, sugar and anise, rolled in sugar.
Pixín a la sidra
Monkfish cooked in cider with onion, in an earthenware pot.
Fabada asturiana
Large white beans with chorizo, morcilla and lacón, cooked slowly.
Festivals in Mieres
Fiestas de San Juan
around 24 June
The bonfire is lit, the dance is performed holding hands in a circle and cider flows through the streets.
What to see in Mieres
Pozo Barredo
The mining shaft in the middle of the city, with the headframe visible from every street.
Casa Duró
A modernist house from 1907 in the middle of a miners' city.
Iglesia de San Juan Bautista
The church in the centre, with the tower and the square where the market is held.
Where Mieres comes from
Coal and a modernist house
Roman era
The roads
The valley is crossed by the road that climbs towards the Meseta.
1844
Coal
The first mines open: the Caudal valley fills with shafts.
1907
Casa Duró
The modernist house is built, unusual for a miners' city.
1990 → today
Reconversion
With the shafts closed, the university campus and services take the place of the mines.
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