Gijón: Where Antiquity Meets the Avant-Garde
You know what the coolest thing about the Spanish city of Gijón is? The ruins of a Roman wall! Part of these fortifications is tucked right into the historic Cimavilla neighborhood. They were built during the twilight of the Roman Empire. Heavily reinforced in the Middle Ages. Arian and I are suckers for ancient stonework so we were in heaven exploring them.
We also stumbled upon the remains of baths in the city. As it turns out this is one of Gijóns archaeological highlights and practically the only fully preserved ancient thermal complex in all of northern Spain!
The churches here are incredible too. On the seafront stands the Church of San Pedro—it feels like its very stones still remember the Roman legionaries. Meanwhile the Gothic Basilica of the Sacred Heart is so impressive inside that it feels like a Sistine Chapel.
The ultimate symbol of the city is the monument to Don Pelayo, the king of Asturias. He is a figure here: it was with him that the Christian resistance against Muslim rule on the Iberian Peninsula first began.
What amazed us the most were the modern monuments. We even jokingly nicknamed Gijón the "city of sculptures." The striking one is Elogio del Horizonte ("Praise of the Horizon") a massive structure that seems to unite the earth the sky and the endless ocean. On the hand the Madre del Emigrante ("Mother of the Emigrant") sculpture just breaks your heart: it features a woman reaching her hand out toward the sea painfully seeing her son off into the unknown.
We were also captivated by Sombras de Luz ("Shadows of Light")—four vertical steel sheets that create an amazing interplay of light and shadow throughout the day.. Of course Solidaridad ("Solidarity") a massive intertwining of open steel rings that symbolize freedom, unity and respect for diversity.
"Yeah Spaniards definitely know a thing or two, about sculpture " Arian concluded with the air of a true connoisseur.
The text was originally written in Ukrainian translated with the help of Google Translate