Avilés deserves more time than most pilgrims give it. The old town is a compact web of narrow cobbled streets, lined with multicolored houses perched on limestone arcades, opening into squares — the Plaza de España and the Plaza del Mercado — that reward a wander.
Three churches compete for attention. The Iglesia de Santo Tomás de Canterbury is one of the very few churches in Spain dedicated to an English saint (the other is in Caldas de Reis on the Portugués). The Iglesia de los Padres Franciscanos and the Parroquia de San Nicolás de Bari complete the trio. Opposite San Francisco, the small Museo de la Historia Urbana de Avilés packs an efficient overview of the city's history into less than an hour.
The Centro Niemeyer, designed by Oscar Niemeyer on the opposite bank of the estuary, is the modern cultural addition — a sweeping complex of white curves that polarizes opinion.
All services available. The walk out of Avilés, heading north along the river, is pleasant compared to the walk in.
Avilés traces its roots to prehistoric settlement, but the city's rise began when Alfonso III recognized it as the premier Asturian port and built defensive walls to repel the Normans. The walls lasted until 1818; the Normans did not.
The city's most famous seafarer was Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. In 1565 he captured Fort Caroline in Florida from the French and founded San Agustín (St. Augustine) — the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the United States. He became Florida's first governor.
The walk through Avilés, set upon the river, is due north. It is pleasant compared to the other side of town and the only real obstacle is a small but steep climb just before you get to Salinas.
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