Christmas in Oviedo

Like most people we truly love white Christmas.  This year, we have to concede though that there are better places for snow on Christmas than Oviedo.  The 19 degrees Celsius on St. Nicholas Day were wonderful for a bike ride into the mountains, but not a good omen for snow on the holidays.  Around Christmas, as our friends from the hiking club explained to us, the mountains above the city are often snow covered, but Oviedo itself is never white, but wet and colorful.

In Oviedo, Christmas is an event that takes place on the city streets rather than at home.  No decorated living room windows and no real Christmas trees in the living rooms, but the streets and public squares sparkle and twinkle like crazy:  Feliz Navidad garlands, fairy lights, the most amazing light installations ... everything you want to wish for, as long as it is big, bright and shiny – when it comes to Christmas, Oviedo is a generous city.  Which by the way is particularly practical when it rains the lights are reflected by the puddles.  It often rains in Oviedo during the winter months.

But the lights are not everything.  Like any Spanish city that takes pride in itself, Oviedo not only puts up lots and lots of lights during Advent, but also plenty of loudspeakers that fill the streets and alleyways with Spanish and English Christmas carols around the clock to make their acoustic contribution to the festive season.  It's not exactly kitsch-free, but quite bearable for a few weeks and actually pretty nice.

What's more - and now it really gets nice - our children and their partners are coming to visit us.  They will be flying in from Bonn, Siegburg, Bremen and - on the way back from the big after-college vacation trip - from Peru.  Mecki is already looking forward to taking part in the Oviedo’s New Year's Eve run with everyone, and Mike is looking forward to set off into the Cantabrian Mountains with Felix to photograph griffon vultures as well as cooking a big meal for this bunch of people.  He just has to figure out something for the fuses, which frequently blow when heating the third hotplate.  Let’s see if he finds something.

So, some things will be different this Christmas, but many others will remain the way they’ve always been.  For example, that the holidays are bound to be nice again and, of course, that we wish you all the best.  Have a wonderful festive season and a healthy and - in your own personal sense - happy new year!

Merry Christmas and best of wishes from

Mecki and Mike

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