Asturias

When people think of Spain, most envision the sunshine and palm trees. While this is certainly true of a large part of Spain, many do not understand how diverse the country's landscape is! We recently discovered the hidden gem that is Northern Spain. Made up of the regions of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country, the North of Spain has a feel that is much closer to the Pacific Northwest in the US, or even Ireland. We chose to visit Asturias, home to the famous Picos de Europa, which we had been looking forward to visiting for a long time! We only had three days to see as much as we could, so we rented a car, and hit the road!

The first day we went from small village to smaller village - each one with a unique charm. We drove along the northern coast, stopping at various small towns for a view of the water, a glimpse at the landscape, perhaps a cafe con leche, and then continued on. A few villages really stood out to us for various reasons, mostly their colorful buildings and quaint seaside culture.

Our first stop was in very quiet Luarca.

The charming village of Cudillero.

Some have claimed this village "the most beautiful in Spain". We liked it, but wouldn't give it that title.

We ventured to the very Northern tip of Spain and had our picnic while watching the waves crash against the giant rocks.

One of our main goals for the trip was to get to the Playa de las Catedrales. Sitting on the Bay of Biscay, this beach is full of adventurous possibilities when visited at low tide. We went around 9pm, and it was the perfect time to wander all throughout the rocks, occasionally wading through water and standing in awe of the coast ahead of us.

The second day, we headed away from the coast, and drove two hours to the other side of the region to the famous Picos de Europa.At the foot of the Picos is the town of Cangas de Onis. This small town contains one of the symbols of the region - a medieval Roman bridge. We sat by the river and enjoyed a bottle of the Asturias' beverage - sidra. In Asturias, sidra is made from local apples and has been produced there since ancient times. For two cider lovers, we were quite pleased that this was the cheapest beverage option and that there were sidrerias on every corner. However, this cider is nothing like Magners or Hornsby's like we are used to in the U.S. - the apples are fermented and unsweeted, so the result is a mixture of tart, bitter, and sweet.  We still loved it, but it took us some time to understand the tradition surrounding sidra. When you order a bottle of cider (only 2 euros!), your waiter will pour it for you by holding a large, rustic glass in one hand and the dark green bottle of cider in the other. He'll raise the bottle above his head, and let the chilled cider fall into the glass, splashing on the ground, and producing a bit of foam. This is apparently the way to get the best flavor, because the cider needs the oxygen. They only pour you about 1-2 inches at a time in your glass, and you're supposed to drink it right away. About 20 minutes later, they will come refill your glass with another inch, and so forth. It made us chuckle every time, but it was a tradition we definitely appreciated!

From Cangas de Onis, we drove into the Picos and up to the Lagos de Covadonga. The road to the lakes is windy and steep, but around every turn is another stunning view of the green landscape and sharp rocks. The lakes sit not far from one another and are surrounding by layers and layers of hills. With cows roaming the open space surrounding the water, and the sun on our faces, we could not have been any happier to sit and admire the views. We found a trail and hiked into the mountains for a few hours, deeply breathing the fresh air and trying to take in every ounce of beautiful nature to fill our souls!

Our last day in Asturias we spend checking out the capital, Oviedo. Honestly, we didn't want to do any city activity on this trip, but the weather turned rainy on Monday, which made us toss away our plans to hike again. Oviedo had a couple of pretty streets, a very nice Cathedral, but our hearts wanted to be in the mountains or on the coast, so we ended up driving to the nearest beach we could find to the airport, and used our last hour walking along the edge of the water.

A pretty corner of Oviedo

The coast we spent our time in instead of wandering the city more.

Being in the North of Spain really wet our appetites to walk the Camino de Santiago some day. We hope we get the opportunity to at least do part of it next year! The landscape is truly beautiful, and every village charming. We loved stepping into a less-touristy side of Spain, and seeing yet another gorgeous corner of our country.