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Spain Travel Exploring The Asturian Coast, Colombres, El Pindal And The Cares Mountain Valley
My last full day in Asturias had arrived. I had long wanted to travel to this northern Spanish mountain region, and my six days here had not been a disappointment. Over the last few days I had had a chance to visit some of the large cities in Asturias (Oviedo and Gijn), I had thoroughly explored the mountain regions in Teverga and the Picos de Europa, and yesterday I made my way to the coast to the beautiful waterfront towns of Ribadesella and Llanes.
At breakfast I discussed with my hosts, Lucas and Blanca from the Posada de Babel, what places I should visit today. Lucas recommended that I visit the coastline east of Llanes, the prehistoric cave El Pindal and the mountain village of Colombres whose special attraction is the Museo de la Emigracin which documents various aspects of the huge waves of emigration that have taken place in Asturias between the 1850s and the 1950s.
After a nice filling morning meal in the bright breakfast room, I got in my car and start driving eastwards on this slightly overcast day. I snaked my way along the coastline east of Llanes and stopped at various lookout points or drove down on narrow unpaved lanes towards some of the beaches. Playa Ballota was a very scenic but deserted beach with interesting rock formations. Only a ruined metal beach shack and a VW camper bus provided any clues of civilization. Most of the beaches were quite empty as the sun had not fully come out yet.
I briefly drove into the golf course in Llanes, one of the few golf courses in Asturias. This facility is located right on the Atlantic Ocean and reminded me of some courses in Scotland. It was quite busy on this Sunday morning. Golf has obviously become pretty popular in the north of Spain as well. Further along the coastline I turned off to the village of Andrn where I talk another narrow one-lane road to a lookout point over a scenic windswept beach.
Back on the main road I saw several hikers walking on the shoulder and I realized that they were pilgrims who were walking on the Camino del Norte to Santiago de Compostela. Over the last few years pilgrimage travel has become very popular, particularly the Way of St. James, or Camino de Santiago in Spanish. The most popular pilgrimage route to Santiago is called Camino Francs and runs south of Asturias through cities such as Pamplona, Burgos and Len while the Coastal Route snakes along the coastline of Asturias.
As I turned inland, the sun came out and created the perfect backdrop for my excursion. I stopped in Colombres, a quaint mountain village of less than 1400 people. Colombres is most well known for the Museum of Emigration that is housed in a gorgeous villa called Quinta Guadalupe. During the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century thousands of Asturians emigrated to Latin America to escape poverty and to create a new and hopefully better life for themselves.
Many of these emigrants settled in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela. Cuba and Mexico were their most popular destinations, and there was also a sizeable Asturian community in Florida. Some of these emigrants became very wealthy and successful overseas, and many of these so-called Indianos returned back to Asturias to built impressive villas, the so-called casas indianas and other structures. Once returned, a palm tree on the front lawn would hint at their longing for the American soil.
Quinta Guadalupe is a perfect example of a casa Indiana that was built by Don Iigo Noriega Laso, a typical Indiano who had made a fortune in Mexico in the tobacco business. He returned to Colombres to build the palace-like Quinta Guadalupe, which was completed in 1906 and named after his wife, Doa Guadalupe Castro.
I entered the mansion and was immediately impressed by the huge open space in the interior with balconies on the second and third floor. Every detail of this structure was opulent: the coffered ceiling, the intricate stucco work, the hand-made tiles, the woodwork of the balconies, the painted ceilings with their lavish chandeliers, the grand staircase and some of the original luxurious furnishings.
The museum houses artifacts and documents that came from the Asturian centres in Havana, Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Tampa. In many of these locations, Asturian descendants still have a strong community today, about a century after their ancestors originally emigrated. On the third floor of the mansion there is a room that is dedicated to the emigrant experience and shows posters of some of the ships that transported them from Spain to the New World. Many photos also show goodbyes between the emigrants and their friends and family who stayed behind.
Being an immigrant myself, the exhibits in this room really touched me. I too had left my home country of Austria at the tender age of 20 and moved to Canada where I have now been living for almost a quarter century. This room in the museum that focused on the sad goodbyes brought back so many memories of my own, and I could personally empathize with these emigrants who had to leave their loved ones behind. The Quinta Guadalupe has been illustrating the story of Asturian emigrants to the Americas since 1986 and is one of the most outstanding examples of Indiano architecture in all of Spain.
But the town of Colombres boasts even more architectural jewels built by Indianos. The entire town has 12 villas that were constructed by former emigrants; even the towns church and city hall were built by Indianos. At the Museum of Emigration I had picked up a brochure called La Huella Indiana (the footprint of the Indianos) that would guide me past all the various mansions and structures.
Asturian emigrants would not only build lavish mansions upon their return to their homeland during their retirement years; many of them also improved the local peoples lives by building schools, roads, churches and cemeteries. The village of Colombres itself is a prime benefactor of Indiano generosity as the church, city hall, the electrical system and the public water supply were installed by Latin American emigrants who had returned back to their roots.
The mansions that I walked by were all well described by plaques located in front, and the architecture was indeed impressive. The public library, for instance, is housed in a huge stone mansion from the 1920s. The oldest casa indiana is located on the main square and dates back to 1877.
With a much better understanding of the circumstances surrounding Asturian emigration, I headed back to the coast and stopped briefly at the municipal cemetery near the town of Noriega. Cemeteries are always unique and I just had to have a peak through the locked metal gate to see what this graveyard would look like.
Then I stopped on a gorgeous lookout point near Pimiango where I had a phenomenal view over the Atlantic Ocean. The sun was beaming down on me now, but when I turned around and looked at the Picos de Europa mountains, I could see quite a few snow-covered peaks in the distance. Asturias is just such an amazingly picturesque destination.
As suggested by my gracious host Lucas, I started looking for the Cueva del Pindal, a limestone cave with prehistoric paintings that were discovered in 1908, part of the Paleolithic cave complex in Northern Spain that has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. I found the park surrounding the cave and started walking towards the steep coastline that was composed of limestone rocks, pine trees and turquoise waters. I hiked around for a while on rocky terrain but was unable to find the entrance to the cave.
So I decided to continue my excursion and head back into the mountains. With my childhood memories from the Alps, I have always had a real fondness for mountain regions, and the Picos de Europa (the Peaks of Europe) were calling me again. I drove inland into the Cares River Valley and inhaled the gorgeous mountain panorama on this sunny day. I left the main road several times and drove up higher on small winding lanes to stop and take in the breathtaking scenery around me. Cows were grazing everywhere, and their bells were echoing throughout the valley.
Back on the main road traffic was light but I saw several groups of motorcyclists who were enjoying this extremely scenic drive. Asturias, with its combination of mountains and ocean, its lush green fields and forests, had definitely earned a spot in my heart as one of my favourite travel destinations in the world.
By now it was past 3:30 pm and I had gotten really hungry. I found a nice restaurant right on the main road and sat down for a savoury and very filling Asturian bean stew called "pote". I stayed for a while and enjoyed the sun before I started my drive back through the ever narrower river valley. The Cares River Gorge is extremely popular among hikers and offers many different trails of various levels of difficulty. Not far away is the Naranjo del Bulnes, at 2519 metres one of the highest peaks of the Cantabrian mountain range and probably the best known destination for mountaineering in this area.
On the way back to my hotel, La Posada de Babel in the rural village of La Pereda, I was surrounded by a huge flock of sheep, evidence of the pastoral character of this region. After a brief rest I sat down for dinner in the hotels restaurant and chef Reyes made a special vegetarian dish for me upon request: finely spiced farm-fresh green beans with freshly harvested local potatoes, followed by my favourite dessert: rice pudding.
I was joined by another hotel guest, an older gentleman by the name of Adolfo from Mexico City, who was indeed a descendant of one of the Indianos that had emigrated from Asturias a number of decades ago. He was here in town to settle some property matters that dated back many years and we had a really enjoyable discussion, comparing the cultures of Spain, Mexico and Cuba. The entire conversation was conducted in Spanish, so this proved to be a great opportunity for practicing my language skills.
Adolfo and I chatted all the way until 11 pm when I had to get to bed to rest up. Tomorrow I would have to leave Asturias and make my way south to Salamanca where I would be spending one night, followed by two nights in Madrid. My time in Asturias had come to an end and I felt a slight tinge of melancholy that I had to leave this gorgeous mountain area and its hospitable people that had become so dear to me over the last week. But I had to move on and more Spanish adventures were waiting for me
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