The first semifinal of the 2023 Grand Prix arrives. Of all the participating towns in this new stage of the successful RTVE contest, only four have managed to overcome the tournament phase and qualify for the final duels: Yepes (Toledo), Alfacar (Granada), Aguilar de Campoo (Palencia) and Tineo (Asturias). These last two localities are the ones that face each other in the first place.
The face-to-face was scheduled for this Tuesday, August 22, starting at 10:35 p.m. on La 1, but the public channel has decided to change the grid and offer the arrival of the Spanish soccer team in Madrid and the subsequent celebration with the public.
Waiting to find out when La 1 will broadcast the semifinal, what is certain is that there can only be one. Aguilar de Campoo or Tineo. The people from Palencia will have the comedian and actor José Mota as godfather, who will support the mayoress of the town, María José Ortega, while the Asturians will have the support of the actress Elena Furiase, who will be next to the mayoress, Montse Fernández, representing the people.
Before Ramón García introduces the games and before the beating begins, let’s get to know the two semifinalist towns a bit better.
Known as the town of cookies, due to the fact that in the 1960s it had five factories of this food, Aguilar de Campoo is located on the banks of the Pisuerga river, in the Montaña Palencia region. Located 99 kilometers from Palencia, capital of the province, it is connected by the A-67 highway and the N-627 national highway.
The town boasts of housing in its surroundings the largest concentration of existing Romanesque churches, as highlighted on the official website of Aguilar de Campoo Tourism.
With a population of 6,646 inhabitants according to data from the INE (2022), Aguilar de Campoo was declared a royal Villa on May 14, 1455 by King Alfonso X, El sabio. And already in 1966, it was declared a Historic-Artistic Site.
There are plenty of incentives to discover the Palencia town. There is, for example, the Monastery of Santa María la Real, a Romanesque-style monastic complex dating from the 12th century and that houses a church with magnificent wall paintings, a cloister, a museum and an interpretation center. Or the fortress of the Medieval Castle, from the 13th century, located on top of the hill.
As previously mentioned, the cookie is the symbol of the place. They revere their cookies so much that they even celebrate the Cookie Carnival, declared a festival of regional tourist interest. Without leaving gastronomy, the town delights visitors with fried milk, pasta, puff pastry or Nestar cheese with quince.
The settings are spectacular. From the town you can see the landscape of Las Loras, a UNESCO World Geopark, which extends between the provinces of Burgos and Palencia with high moors, testimonial hills, meadows and river canyons that are home to a multitude of species of flora and fauna, many of them they threatened.
Located in the heart of western Asturias, the council of Tineo is a wonderful mix of nature and culture. Between deep valleys with forests and high mountain pasture areas, it is one of the largest milk producers in the Principality of Asturias.
Located at an altitude of 652 meters, Tineo has just over 9,000 inhabitants according to the council’s census, which is the second largest in Asturias.
The Tineo town has a long and important history that had its splendor during the 12th and 15th centuries with the influx of pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela. In the municipality, the Monastery of Santa María la Real Obona stands out, an obligatory stop on the Primitive Jacobean Route, as well as the Museum of Sacred Art.
Focusing on the town, from Turismo Tineo they recommend visiting the town hall; the Cimadevilla neighborhood; the monuments to Maldonado and Count Campomanes; the Palace of the García de Tineo and the Palace of Merás; the primitive Temple of San Pedro or the Paseo de Los Frailes, among other emblematic places.
The rest of the municipality, land of Exemplary Towns, offers a multitude of attractions for those who visit it: prehistoric dolmens, Roman gold mines, monasteries, palaces or ancient trees. Do not miss the surroundings of the Pilotuerto reservoir or the Carbayón de Valentín.
And with the tablecloth on, Tineo has a good charcuterie tradition and quality in its sausages, especially the tsinguaniza, the andoyas, the butietso and the chosco. Without forgetting their stews, meats or their chestnuts, walnuts, hazelnuts. And for dessert, the chambionadas, ranging from rice pudding to cow cream and tseite tiesta, through frixuelos or almond drunken sponge cake.
