Strategy, El Red & the Sidra!

Oviedo has an elegant charm and we should know, we spent a long time driving round looking for our hotel today! We have been incredibly lucky up until now. We've hit town and found our hotels with no problem. Perhaps we were becoming slightly smug with our strategy - choose a hotel close to a Cathedral as it is generally easy to see and well signposted, thus the hotel is easy to find. This was not the case in Oviedo - the one way system, few signs, no street names, and pedestrianisation conspired against us! As we passed the pretty San Fransisco Park for the umpteenth time we had time to note that the tulips are out here and leaves on the trees have just unfurled revealing their brand new greeness.

Anyway we are here now, tucked away in the Hotel Cuidad de Oviedo. Its part of the same group as the one we stayed at in Segovia. All the hotels we have stayed in, which although very comfortable and just right for us, are not in 5 star luxury category by any means, but all have had high speed internet, el red, facilities, amazing. Can't see that in Britain. I think Spain is way ahead in the digital roll out. I've just been able to connect up, with and without wires, using my laptop. In Oviedo they have given me an ADSL adaptor to plug into the phone socket and hey presto I'm away with free web access.

The hotel is a short stroll to the Sidrerías - these are bars/restaurants that specialise in cider, Sidra. This evening we have had to investigate the local culture. The Sidra needs to be poured by the waiter from a great height, presumably to aerate and make it palatable, so the floors inside these establishments and the pavements outside are awash with the Sidra. You can smell them well before you get to them! It was OK but I'll stick to the other local produce - wine!