The woman who wears it is a sunshine

  Villaviciosa sits near the edge of the tidal marshes of the river Villaviciosa. The town is not by the river but a little uphill of it.  It is hemmed by two expansives of upland, with a valley tapering of into the ranges to the south. It occupies that rarest of Astruain things, some flat land.



To get to the town we cross the A-8.  The designers of the motorway opted for a tunnel under the river and marsh rather than a bridge.  A row of houses, once a hamlet beyond the river mark our approach. They seem to be either spick and span or in great decay.




As towns go this one has expanded geographically, if not demographically.  There seems to be almost two, parallel, centres, divided by the N-632.  The road cuts through the centre.  To the north are big, modern apartments, with parking, supermarkets and a road or two with many shops.  To the south the core of the older town, including a market with a machine for dispensing bottles of milk, a few narrow streets, before spreading out to for more, and in some cases, higher rise, suburbs.  The most exciting thing to happen here was the arrival of Emperor Charles I in 1517. He was en route to claim the kingdom of Spain and had landed just up the coast.  The event is reenacted every year.




As we enter the older part of the town we come to the Church of St Mary of the Olive.  Alfonso X the Wise ordered its building in 1270 apparently.   It has been added to, as these things are.  Mercedes gave it one star.  ‘The city was deserted and it was impossible to eat later than 3:30 p.m.’  This seems an odd review for a church.  Three days ago Ana said ‘It is a church of transition from Romanesque to Gothic.  The two covers have beautiful capitals. Some curious twin windows run along the top of the single nave.’




I am not really sure what to add. I like the place in a very British ‘it’ll do sort of place.’  I can’t think of a single shop which is an example of its type beyond all others but it has many of them, including a ferreteria. It has enough to divert you in an amusing way for a few hours and why not.





Something I have not done but would like to is go to an Indian Restaurant just to see how British Indian and Spanish Indian vary.  I have less use for a tobbaconost but I do like the shop signage. A year ago Angela wrote ‘The best tobacconist in Villaviciosa, location, excellent treatment, very professional and with a wide variety of products’.  Kele added ‘The woman who wears it is a sunshine, always attentive and with a smile. It's nice to go there’.  What had happened to make Tadeo upset we can only guess. ‘Very complete establishment but terrible treatment, the lady who served me seemed like I owed her my life. I will definitely not return, apart from the minimum card payment of €10…’






We are leaving town now so let us be gone.






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