"a small dirty town..."

"Late in the afternoon we reached Villaviciosa, a small dirty town..." So said in 1843 George Borrow, who having not yet established himself as a writer had been earning his living as a travelling salesman of bibles in Spain. It´s unlikely the Dukes of Valdés would have been pleased with that description, since they kept this "house palace" there, and had extensively rebuilt it only some 40 years previously. Since Borrow also says that Villaviciosa is the "hazlenut capital" while in fact nearby Infiesto is more normally seen as the hazlenut capital, and since not only the Valdés family but also the Hevia family had palaces in Villaviciosa, Borrow may have confused the two towns. I´ve put the Hevia palace in an extra; and it´s notable too for being the first house that Charles I slept in in Spain, in 1516. It too of course has been extensively rebuilt. 
Also in extras I´ve put two figures hidden under the eaves of the Valdés house - very difficult to see, because they´re high up and they´re hidden by the darkness. I´ve been told they´re salvaged effigies of the owners of an earlier palace on the same site, and if that´s true they date from the 16th century. 
The quotation is from George Borrow: The Bible in Spain, 1843.