March 29, 2024

Ribadesella: German sea view from a Spanish sea front

The seafront at Ribadesella, August 2018

Asturias, in the north of Spain, is a green place, not unlike England in its climate and weather. The place is a bit like Norfolk, rural, though it has nicer beaches in the main. On the the north coast there is a very small town called Ribadesella, which is special because of the extraordinary gothic houses, which line the sea front.

They are huge, detached, with spacious surrounds, unSpanish, gothic and I don’t think you’ll find anything like them in the rest of Spain. They are, in some ways deliberately ostentatious and caricatures of themselves. Some of the houses are Disney-like.

Chalet Villa Rosario, Ribadesella, built in 1914 by a Spaniard who made his fortune in Cuba, August 2018
Chalet Villa Rosario, Ribadesella, built in 1914 by a Spaniard who made his fortune in Cuba, August 2018

 

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