You may have noticed all the Hórreos photos coming up in the daily autogenerated slideshows. I got interested in them and started taking a photo of every one I passed. Camino walkers will know them from Galicia where they are also ubiquitous but rectangular. In Asturias they’re all square and there are a lot of them. Most houses in small towns have them but you rarely see them between towns. Their original purpose was to dry crops (out of the rain). They are built on stilts with wide plates partway up to prevent mice from climbing up. Here is a typical one:
Surprisingly most of them are in poor shape.
This one is an extreme case of deferred maintenance.
And they come in pairs.
And in playgrounds.
And they have tiny ones.
As we got close to Galicia they suddenly disappeared. We saw a few of the rectangular type but made of bricks. More on Galicia horreos later.