This weekend to keep our quarantined spirits up, we had an Asturian themed afternoon. Asturies, party of two! It was complete with fabada (bean soup typical of Asturies), sidra, queso de Cabrales (a strong Asturian goat cheese), and Asturian tunes. Not long before the quarantine, though, I was actually in Asturies. So here goes another post:
A couple of months ago, we took a little getaway to the western part of Asturies. Despite being the part closest to my home in Galicia, the west was essentially the only part of Asturies that I hadn't yet seen. I'd been to the major cities of Xixón and
Uviéu; as well as up and down the coast in Cuideiru, Avilés, Llanes, and Ribadesella; not to mention the
national park region in the southeast.
Salas
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| Salas and its market |
Salas is the capital of the municipality of the same name. This region of Asturies is full of green hills, but then again so is most of Asturies. Salas is small but with a really cute Medieval town center. When we arrived they had a decent-sized market set up. I would have thought we had travelled back in time a few centuries if it weren't for the stalls selling socks, bras, and fuzzy pajamas! There wasn't much else to see here, so we strolled around and soaked up the winter sun.
Malleza
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| An indiano complete with palm trees |
This parish of Salas has a smattering of houses, including some really lovely
indianos.
Indiano describes a style of large house built by returned emigrants. In the early 20th century, many Galicians and Asturians emigrated to Cuba and South America in search of a better life. Those who struck it rich returned with enough money to build a mansion in their homeland. Bonus points for bringing back palm trees! There are many
indianos in A Mariña (northern part of Lugo province) as well as in Asturies. I'm not sure if all of Malleza's
indianos are inhabited, but they certainly were well-kept with colorful, fresh coats of paint. Unfortunately, the same is not always true for historical buildings and sites in Galicia.
Tuña
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| Neighboring hórreos |
This little village had a surprising number of mansions. Two or three, actually. My favorite was a noble palace from the 18th century. It still appears to be occupied, although I imagine they only live on one floor. Apart from the architecture, I liked the amount of sun it got. It was also just a hop skip and a jump from the Roman bridge over Tuña's River. Convenient! In Tuña, just about every house had its own hórreo. Galicia also has hórreos, but in Asturies they are around 3 times the size. And they're pretty uniform: almost always brown and square. (In Galicia they're made of a variety of materials and rectangular, with lengths varying on wealth.)
Cangas del Narcea
After visiting hamlets of barely 1,000 habitants, this town of 12,000 people felt
so cosmopolitan. The fact that a lot of people were better-dressed than us helped, too. But the pedestrian shopping street also felt like a European city. Here we had lunch at a
sidrería. When in Rome! The highlight of Cangas was actually in the village ¨next door,¨ Corias. The top (re: only) attraction in Corias is a gigantic monastery, now converted into a Parador. And that's where we spent the night. A luxurious, centuries-old building. Inside it has a museum of the ruins the present monastery was built on. And the old wine cellar has been converted into a swimming pool!
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| Just one section of the Parador. It was huge |
