Gijón - Capital city of the Green Coast (Northern Spain)

[Avientu]

Gijón (Asturian: Xixón), officially Gijón / Xixón, is a coastal industrial city and its municipality in the autonomous community of Asturias in Spain. Early mediaeval texts mention it as "Gigia". It was an important regional Roman city, although the area has been settled since earliest history. The name was originally applied to a small peninsula presently referred to as Cimadevilla, literally "top of village," between two beaches, one of which has a recreational port today. The main port, one of the largest in the north of Spain, is called "El Musel". Gijón has a growing population of approximately 277,000 (2006).

As part of Atlantic Europe, Gijón has an Atlantic Humid continental climate, with mild temperatures and very high humidity throughout the year. The summers are mild warm, with both overcast and sunny days and winters are moderate with significant rains and wind, although the cold climate of Asturias results in snowfall at sea level.

(from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gijon)


OLD TOWN















































ISABEL LA CATÓLICA PARK AREA

Bullring



















CITY CENTRE







Railway Museum (reconverted old Railway Station)



























Street Art

































































NEW DEVELOPMENTS, LEISURE HARBOUR













ESPLANADE, SOMIÓ NEIGHBOURHOOD































Hope you liked it!

[fuwei8908166]

where?

[Pairedjam]

Here.

[LS Kim]

Wow! Gorgeous city!

[lpioe]

The old town is lovely.

[^Anton^]

Well done, it was about time someone dedicated a thread of this quality to Gijón.. congrats for the pics, but, capital city of the Green Coast? since when?

I mean, we all love our hometown.... but come on...

[lynux]

There is a lovely city, it has a picturesque buildings.

[lynux]

Originally Posted by ^Anton^

but, capital city of the Green Coast? since when?

Then, which is the capital city of the Green Coast? Maybe will be in figured sense.

[^Anton^]

Originally Posted by lynux

Then, which is the capital city of the Green Coast? Maybe will be in figured sense.

Actually, since the Green Coast is not an administrative region, there's not such a thing as a capital of that area.

The thing is, since we're posting in an international forum, I thought the title was misleading and therefore may lead to a wrong interpretation by foreign forumers.

I don't think anyone in Spain would consider Gijón the capital of the Green Coast in any sense... I'm not saying there's a clear candidate, though.

And anyway, it was not my intention to bring controversy to this thread... as I said before, it is a great thread indeed and Gijón was deserving it, I honestly think Avientu did a great job and I thank him for sharing all those pics, as I said, it was about time somebody did this.

[Avientu]

Come on guys, never heard of Gijón, la capital de la Costa Verde?
Is the city`s tourist slogan.

More info on the Green Coast (La Costa Verde):

http://www.spain.info/TourSpain/Cost...de?language=en

[Rafael MG]

Beautiful city.

By the way, how many people speaks asturian? I thought the other languages in Spain besides spanish were only galician, catalan and basque.

[Avientu]

These three are the official ones.

Asturian is sadly in decline and is mostly spoken in the rural areas. There have been efforts to revitalize it, but until it doesn't become official it won´t get the status it deserves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asturian

[Jonesy55]

Nice pics of another great city in Northern Spain.

So is Gijon bigger than Oviedo?

[Stifler]

Originally Posted by Jonesy55

Nice pics of another great city in Northern Spain.

So is Gijon bigger than Oviedo?

It's the same than asking somebody from Liverpool if Manchester is bigger . I am more reliable coming from the 3rd Asturian city.

In terms of population of the municipality, Gijón (274,472 inh.) is bigger than Oviedo (214,883 inh.). However, Oviedo has a large influence (and proximity) with other municipalities like Siero (50,000 inh.) and is the regional capital.

Great pics Avientu. Besides the lovely city centre (Cimadevilla is awesome), Gijon has been able to transform some degraded areas like Poniente. The future seems bright after you bury the railways and build some skyscrapers.

[Jonesy55]

Thanks, I saw an article last week about the new Oscar Niemeyer arts centre development in Aviles in a British newspaper.

Here's the link if you are interested.

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article3231227.ece

[Stifler]

Wow! Thanks a lot!

It appeared as well in the largest Spanish newspaper. I wish I am young enough to see it finished. A lot of international summits, press articles, publicitary events... but we won't see the construction begins until next March. We really need an urbanism effect à la Bilbao to end up with our industrial past.

[samba_man]

Very beaultiful and colorful city, with lots of gems !

[^Anton^]

Originally Posted by Stifler

It's the same than asking somebody from Liverpool if Manchester is bigger . I am more reliable coming from the 3rd Asturian city.

In terms of population of the municipality, Gijón (274,472 inh.) is bigger than Oviedo (214,883 inh.). However, Oviedo has a large influence (and proximity) with other municipalities like Siero (50,000 inh.) and is the regional capital.

Great pics Avientu. Besides the lovely city centre (Cimadevilla is awesome), Gijon has been able to transform some degraded areas like Poniente. The future seems bright after you bury the railways and build some skyscrapers.

Ehhhr... I'm not originally from Oviedo, actually, I'm not even from Asturias! I just happen to live here cos of my studies... hehe, but it's a fact that Gijón is bigger than Oviedo, though the latter is the capital of the Principalty of Asturias.

Btw, I recently read in a newspaper that Oviedo had reached 220,000 inh. thanks to the expansion of its Northern suburbs.

I'd like to say as well that I agree with Stifler concerning the succesful transformation of former degraded areas in the city, Gijón has indeed managed to turn itself into a truly liveable and attractive city.

[Andros]

Originally Posted by Rafael BH

Beautiful city.

By the way, how many people speaks asturian? I thought the other languages in Spain besides spanish were only galician, catalan and basque.

Spanish, galician, catalan, basque, asturian (or asturian-leonese) and aragonese are the most important languages. There are other small languages like "xalimiegu" in Extremadura, "aranés" (occitan) in Cataluña, "tamazight" in Ceuta...
We have a thread to learn asturian in the astur-cantabrian forum: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=455279
I speak asturian, but english... no very well

[Andros]

The future of Xixón: