Hello friends, I left Asturias with wonderful memories from my trip. At first glance it looks like a place from the Alps, Tyrol or perhaps Germany's Black Forest. However, this is the green belt or green coast known as the region in the north of Spain along the Atlantic Ocean. The distance to the Atlantic Ocean is quite large from here. But we were in a place called Covadonga. This area is located within a mountain range known as the peaks of Europe and it is very impressive, magnificent place.
The main reason this place is important is that it marks the beginning of the Reconquista, the movement to reclaim Andalusia, which began here in the seventh century. There is a monument here in memory of the victory of Spain's first historical king, erected at the site of his triumph. And, there is a basilica, named the Basilica of Saint Mary, built in memory of this victory. The current building was constructed at the end of the 10th century after the original temple was burned down and is made of pink limestone, blending beautifully with the surrounding green hills.
The peaks of Europe is a mountain range that spans the regions of Castile-Leon, Asturias and Cantabria. While these mountains are quite high, they are neither the highest mountains in Spain nor in Europe. However, the caves here are known as the deepest caves in Spain. We didn't visit the caves, but we discovered an interesting cave. According to an information panel, it is said that a priest named Laya lived here in a cave in the seventh century. There is now a small chapel on top of the cave and services are even held there on a small balcony. Additionally, services are conducted in the basilica as well. In other words this is still an active place of worship.
Here, you can also find the graves of Asturias first king Pelayo and several important Asturian nobles with him. This is a charming place, an unusual corner of Spain.
Since we were here, we couldn’t miss visiting Cangas de Onís the first capital of Asturias. This city was only the capital for 60 years. There aren't many tourist attractions here. In fact there are only a few things worth coming for. But there are still some important places we encountered along the way: The first is the Roman bridge with the Victory cross hanging on it. This cross symbolizes the beginning of the Reconquista and the victory. Another interesting place is a small chapel called Santa Cruz. This chapel was rebuilt after Pelayo’s victory in 737, but its origins date back much earlier. The original structure was built over a dolmen from around 3000 bc.
This city is very sweet, organized and clean, just like all the cities in Asturias. The river that flows through Cangas de Onís and passes over this Roman bridge is called the Sella River. We followed this river down to Ribadesella, a fishing town where the river flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic coast of Asturias is indeed quite impressive and offers a beautiful view.
I must say that this town seems to have had brighter days in the past, as there are interesting buildings along the coast. Still there are a few interesting things here. There is a marketplace and perhaps one of the most interesting aspects is that Ribadesella is considered a prehistoric site. This is because there are caves and ancient rock paintings here. However, what really caught our attention was modern history, especially modern architecture, so we continued on to explore that.
There is a unique structure here. You may have heard of the concept of the Bilbao effect, which refers to how a city is revitalized through interesting architectural and cultural structures. A similar effect has been tried to be created in Asturias. To sum it up, this story began in 1989 when the great Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer received the Asturias prince award for his contributions to world culture. In 2006 for the 25th anniversary of the same award, he was invited to Asturias. He promised to design something remarkable here, everyone liked it and he created a drawing that everyone loved. Then the question arose of where to carry out this project and the city of Avilés was chosen. At the time Avilés was an industrial and relatively unattractive city, so the project was built here.
Construction began in 2008. But due to the financial crisis, the process was delayed and finally in 2011, the Oscar Niemeyer center was opened in an old port industrial area. Here you can see the shapes and techniques used in Niemeyer’s projects. There re almost no straight lines. Everything is curved. These structures remind me of the ones in Ibirapuera park in São Paulo. There is a beautiful dome here, which connects with a bridge, serving as a sunshade area. But also used as an amphitheater. There is also a multifunctional building that includes a café, offices and other spaces. The most striking feature of this building is the tower, which also serves as an observation point.
As of now it seems that the Bilbao effect has not been created in Avilés, but it is said that tourist interest in the city has increased. And when we visited, there were two different exhibitions. The first was works by artists inspired by Francisco Goya’s paintings. The second exhibition featured colorful and interesting works by Brazilian photographer Miguel Rio Branco.
Next we went to Oviedo, a city that has many things that make it special. Oviedo was chosen as Spain’s gastronomy capital for 2024 and it is also considered the cleanest city in Spain. I will try to describe the places we visited there in my next posts.
