Auxerre is vital, for the striking riverscape, the half-timbered streets and the sense of a provincial capital complete unto itself.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Outside the provincial capital there were similar figures.
Shubert, Adrian A Social History of Modern Spain (1991)
After a conventional rural schooling, he went on to secondary school in the provincial capital.
Paul Preston DOVES OF WAR: Four Women of Spain (2002)