This huge concrete monument sits on top of the Santa Catalina hill in Gijon, facing the sea…read more Praise of the Horizon is the English name of this concrete sculpture made by the Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida. It is a work of large proportions erected in 1990 and it is considered a symbol of the city and is popularly known as "King Kong's toilet" One of the main features of this sculpture is that you can hear the ocean waves if you stand under it and the sea is rough...almost like when you hold a seashell to your ear...this structure does a similar feat. Some love it, some hate it, still is a symbol of Gijon....

I am not a big fan of Woody Allen but it was nice to see a statue of a well known American…read morecelebrity in Oviedo. The Monument to Woody Allen is a life-size bronze sculpture of the American actor and director. The statue was installed in 2003. The Spanish newspaper El País remarked that "It looks like he is walking with a sad face and his mind somewhere else, not in Oviedo right now, although if you put yourself to his side and start a conversation with him it is so realistic that it looks as if he would answer you". Allen had travelled to the city in 2002 to accept a Prince of Asturias Award. His 2008 film Vicky Cristina Barcelona was partially set here. In front of the statue there is a plaque with Allen's description of Oviedo, reading in Spanish "Oviedo is a delicious city, exotic, beautiful, clean, pleasant, calm and pedestrianised, like it does not belong to this world, as if it didn't exist... Oviedo is like a fairy tale". Oviedo has been noted for its statues, with the city containing over a hundred and fifty outdoor sculptures.

The Plaza where the Woody Allen statue is really pretty at night. It's got a lovely warm glow,…read morethat is especially pretty when the streets are wet. The statue itself definitely looks like Woody. I don't get why someone felt compelled to make a statue of this weird little man to begin with though. I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to see the statue, but since it's in the Casco Antigu0, which is the most beautiful and interesting part of Oviedo, it is inevitable that you will come across this odd sculpture.