It’s a film that can make me smile on the greyest of days. Scarlet Johansson is prozac for the eyes, Rebbecca Hall pragmatic and pretty, Penelope Cruz mad, bad and dangerous to know but who cares, she’s gorgeous. And if Javier Bardem sauntered across to your table with the offer of a trip to Oviedo, lovemaking included, how could you refuse – obviously I mean from a woman’s perspective here.

It was the first time I’d watched the film since I’d visited Asturias and unbeknownst to me then, much of the time I’d been following in the footsteps of Javier, Penelope, Scarlet and Rebecca.

These are some of the locations I shared with Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

La Corrada del Obispo

A romantic restaurant ideal for a romantic proposition, or an invitation to a seduction depending on how you view it. Not only did Juan Antonio try to charm Vicky and Cristina at La Corrada del Obispo, local lass Letizia Ortiz chose it to dine with her special date Felipe. Things went very well and the pair married and Letizia is now also known, appropriately as she was born in Oviedo, as the Princess of Asturias. The mural was painted for the movie and the owners decided to leave it in place after Hollywood moved on.

El Mercado el Fontán

El Mercado el Fontán appears for a split second as Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) shows Vicky (Rebacca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlet Johansson) around Oviedo. The market’s the place for buying some of the famous Asturian blue cheeses like cabrales and the plaza with the town hall is just around the corner. There are great sidrerías (cider bars) in quaint courtyards off the market. Woody Allen chose his angle well, if he’d shot it from the other side he might have got the Rey Jamon in the picture. It might be a top place for buying chorizos but the sight of them piled on top of each other in the window isn’t the most romantic of images. Check this out to see what I mean.

Santa María del Naranco

Vicky and Juan Antonio used the interior of this UNESCO World Heritage Site pre-Romanesque church overlooking Oviedo as a place to have a heart to heart. If you’re neither historian nor architect, there’s not really a lot to see inside so nothing to distract them from a meaningful conversation; although the views of the city from the glassless windows might have caused a ‘sorry, what was that you said?’ moment.

Hotel de la Reconquista – Seduction Number 1

There are a few scenes shot in this historic hotel. The opulent lobby of the Hotel de la Reconquista is where Juan Antonio invited the girls to join him in his room. Only Cristina took him up on the offer. I wish I’d known when I was there that I might be staying in the same room that Scarlet Johansson had puked in.

Palacio de Ferrera – Seduction Number 2

The gardens of the Palacio de Ferrera in Avilés is where Juan Antonio and Vicky were enchanted by the sounds of Spanish guitar, leading to longing stolen looks leading to an al fresco seduction. The door from the gardens back into the hotel doesn’t have a handle and I got stuck garden side when I explored them. Presumably the same thing happened to Vicky and Juan Antonio and that’s why they risked grass stains on their clothes rather than head back to the comfort of the hotel room.

Restaurant Casa Lin

The truth is I didn’t realise Sidrería Casa Lin in Avilés was in Vicky Cristina Barcelona until I saw it mentioned in the credits.

I guess that means I’ll just have to be charmed by Vicky Cristina et al all over again.

Jack is co-editor, writer and photographer for BuzzTrips and the Real Tenerife series of travel websites as well as a contributor to online travel sites and travel magazines. Follow Jack on Google+

Not so much a case of ‘eat me’ but ‘meat me’ at this wonderfully quirky shrine to Asturian cuisine outside of Oviedo. After you’ve seen one of the platu de carnes na parilla (mixed grill with steak, pork, ribs and chicken) specialities at Tierra Astur, you’ll marvel that there are any animals left in the area.

Don’t eat for a week before plonking yourself down in a seat inside a barrel booth as portions are huge and hearty… and ridiculously good value. A four course slap-up feast that includes the mixed grill with wine or Asturian cider and coffee can cost around €18.

I cried when I had to leave Tierra Astur – because I couldn’t manage all the food and had to leave a sinful amount of it behind.

Where? Antigua Fábrica del Aguila Negra, Colloto near Oviedo. www.tierra-astur.com

Jack is co-owner, writer and photographer for BuzzTrips and the Real Tenerife series of travel websites. Follow him on Google+

Tierra Astur (Antigua Fábrica del Aguila Negra, Colloto; +34 985 79 12 28 ; www.tierra-astur.com)
You’d never stumble across this place in a month of Sundays as it’s located in an industrial estate. It looks like nothing from the outside but step through the doors and you enter a wonderland of Asturian cooking. Hams and chorizos hang from the ceiling as do empty cider bottles, artistically. A long counter overflows with fresh produce whilst behind chefs roast huge fillets on grills that blast out such heat that wearing swimwear for dinner would seem more appropriate dress. The real ‘buzz’ factor are the tables inside gigantic barrels. A popular combo here is to have a fabada starter followed by a mixed grill. It is admittedly wonderful but be warned, the fabada starter alone would be enough to fill most mortals and the mixed grill is a veritable mountain of meat – an empty stomach, lots of stamina and crampons are recommended to get to the top of it.

La Corrada del Obispo (Calle Canóniga, 18; +34 985 22 00 48; www.lacorradadelobispo.com )
Anyone looking for a romantic restaurant in Oviedo need look no further than this 18th century townhouse. The décor manages to successfully combine art and antiquities to make dining here warmly intimate. Not only did Woody Allen set a scene from Vicky Cristina Barcelona here (a mural painted for the movie has been left on the wall) but Princess Letizia treated Prince Felipe to a meal here when they were dating. The meat dishes, unsurprisingly, are good, especially the ribs and there are some imaginative monk-fish dishes.

La Pumarada Sidrería- Marisquería (Gascona, 8; +34  985 20 02 79; www.lapumarada.com)
Right in the heart of the cider bar district, La Pumarada offers two Oviedo experiences for the price of one. Downstairs is the restaurant and up a lively…bordering on rumbustious cider bar complete with progressively sticky floor. Stick to the restaurant downstairs till a generous amount of wine and cider helps with the acclimatisation process and try one of the tapas menus. The tortilla is as fluffy as I’ve experienced anywhere, the chorizos in cider are divine and the selection of Asturian cheeses converted me into developing a taste for blue cheese…and that’s no mean feat.

La Puerta Nueva (Leopoldo Alas, 2; +34  985 22 52 27; www.lapuertanueva.com)
The showcase restaurant of talented chef Sergío Rama is for foodies who like to try traditional local ingredients that have been given an imaginative makeover. When I was there the menu included a delicate crab soup, a savoury dish of chickpeas and cod and the winning marriage of hake, cider and sea urchins.

Nightlife in Oviedo
There are plenty of good bars to choose from in Oviedo but to experience the nightlife in full flow head into Gascona known as El Bulevar de la Sidra. The street is packed with cider bars and buzzes from early evening until late. It’s surprisingly boisterous in a friendly sort of way, presumably due to the whole ‘necking the glass of cider in one gulp’ tradition, and is great fun, especially if you literally get into the flow. One of the best nights to go is Thursday which has traditionally been a bit of a party night due to the fact that workers used to get paid on that day.

If you want to blend in like a local don’t forget to read our guide to the art of cider drinking in Asturias.

Buzz Trips was a guest of the Asturias Tourism Board when visiting the establishments above. However, the views are entirely my own.

Plaza de la Constitución
As well as the grand town council, the highlight of the square is the 16th century Church of San Isidro de Real. Its one spire was supposed to be two but it was never completed. I love how they’ve used the ancient brick to tell people that they can’t play ball here, it seems like an act of official vandalism. The real ‘find’ lies through an archway next to the town hall. Plaza El Pescador is one of the prettiest plazas in town and the sculptures on it reveal that this is where the people from the country arrived on donkeys to sell their milk to the townspeople who in return would sell them fish.

El Mercado el Fontán
The streets around the market are lined with stalls selling flowers, CDs and the usual market type gear but it’s the indoor market that gives at least two of your senses a treat. The fish are colourful and their varieties plentiful, there are stalls especially for the local ‘top’ dish, the meaty bean stew fabada and as for the cheeses… Asturias cheeses are to die for. Pick up a bottle of Asturian wine here (yes, Asturias does produce wine – even a lot of Spanish aren’t aware of that). I’d recommend Cangas del Narcea for it’s honest, hearty bouquet. Also look out for the milk bottle machine. This is the sort of place that has you wishing you’d opted for self catering. Next to the market is Plaza Fontán which is a popular meeting place for residents. Les Forgaxes is a good lunch spot to try some Asturian cider. For a real cheesy photo moment, stick your head through the cut out of the ‘cider pourer’ at the bottom of the plaza.

The Cathedral and Plaza de Afonso II El Casto
Although the cathedral’s spire shouts its Gothic influences across the rooftops of the city, Romanesque and even what appears to be Arabic influences reveal that this was a monument that was very much a ‘work in progress’ lasting centuries. As sanctuary for important religious artefacts from across Spain during the invasion of the Moors, its played an important part in the country’s religious history. Interesting though it is, it’s quite oppressively gloomy inside (photography not allowed) and I was quite happy to escape back into the light of the plaza on my visit. The plaza is also home to the 18th century Palacio de Valdecarzana and little statue, La Regenta, whose demureness gives little clue that it’s dedicated to a novel (La Regenta by Leopoldo Alas) that caused such a scandal because of its perceived sordid content at the time (1885) that the only place it could be published in Spain was Barcelona.

Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos Pricesa Letizia
Or Oviedo’s congress and exhibition centre if time is short. Another classic work of modern art in building form by Santiago Calatrava the centre hasn’t been without its setbacks. But now it is a stunning, and typically blinding white monument to the best of contemporary architecture. The centre’s aesthetic white curves dominates Oviedo’s skyline. It’s suggested that the central piece resembles and eyelash – I can see that…but, and cut my tongue out here, I can’t helping thinking ‘transformer’ when I look at it from a distance.

Santa María del Naranco
Lying about 3 kilometres outside of Oviedo, the Church of Santa María del Naranco wasn’t initially contructed as a church but as part of a palace in the 9th century making it the oldest palace in Europe according to the blurb. In reality it appears quite a simple affair, but it’s pre-Romanesque designs have earned it UNESCO World Heritage Site status. Apparently there are all sorts of clues about its history in the design, the number 7 is of particular importance, but those details need the likes of Dan Brown to decode – it was all over my head. There’s not a lot to it but add on the views over Oviedo and a trip here is worth the effort.