Sunday in Oviedo: a 9th-century palace and barrel cider.

From León, Oviedo is an hour and a half along the Huerna motorway, and it is the Sunday that does not depend on the weather: everything is done on foot or under cover. In the morning you go up Monte Naranco to see Santa María, the palace of Ramiro I from the mid-9th century, and San Miguel de Lillo, 300 metres away. You come down to the centre to walk round the Fontán and the old town, eat at the first cider house on Calle Gascona and, if there is afternoon to spare, get into the Fine Arts Museum free of charge.

The Day, Hour by Hour

9:00 · Departure. From León to Oviedo along the AP-66, with the Huerna toll, an hour and a half. Go straight up to the Naranco: there is parking next to the monuments, about three kilometres from the centre.

10:45 · Santa María del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo. The guided visit starts at Santa María and continues at San Miguel de Lillo. It costs €5. From October to March, on Sundays it is open from 10:00 to 12:30; from April to September, in the afternoon too. From the meadow in front you see the whole of Oviedo.

12:30 · The Fontán and the old town. Leave the car in a car park in the centre and start at the Fontán market and its arcaded square. Continue to Plaza de la Constitución, with the town hall and the church of San Isidoro, and finish on Calle Gascona, the cider boulevard. The cathedral is only open for worship on Sundays: you see it from outside from Plaza de Alfonso II.

14:00 · Lunch at El Ferroviario. It opened in 1951 next to the old El Vasco station and was the first cider house on Gascona. A chigre (Asturian cider tavern) with espichas (cider-tapping parties), barrel cider and Asturian cooking. On Sundays the kitchen is open from 13:00 to 16:00; closed on Mondays.

16:30 · Fine Arts Museum of Asturias. Spanish painting from the Renaissance to the 20th century spread across palaces in the old town. Admission is free. Confirm the Sunday opening hours on its website before going.

18:00 · Return. In León around half past seven.

What to Order at El Ferroviario

The fried pixín, which is monkfish, the oven-roasted ribs or the corn cakes with xata roxa, the Asturian-breed veal. For dessert, the Pría smoked-cheese tart. Cider is poured at the table: ask for a bottle and let them do it.

If It Rains, with Children or with More Pre-Romanesque

In the rain the plan hardly changes: the monuments are visited inside and the centre has arcades. If you want more Pre-Romanesque, San Julián de los Prados, or Santullano, is the largest Pre-Romanesque church in Spain, from the 9th century, with mural paintings; admission costs €4. For a guided visit of the old town, the cathedral or the La Regenta route, Visitas Guiadas por Asturias offers private ones, by appointment, with the price on request. With children, the Campo de San Francisco, the park in the centre, is next to Gascona.