Pat Keenan visits Spain’s Costa Verde – the Green Coast
Remember when there was much derision for Ryanair in their earlier days for using small airports often miles away from the listed destination. Nowadays Ryanair is a national treasure allowing us to travel to more destinations than ever imagined before and still including all those small airports, often affording an opportunity to visiting places not easily accessible before. Our arrival just after a two hours from Dublin at Oviedo Airport in Asturias. There was only one other aircraft there.
And so began our journey west along the Costa Verde (the Green Coast) of northern Spain, across in two autonomous communities, Asturias and Cantabria. We would return home from Seve Ballesteros Airport (the famous golfer was a local) in Santander in Cantabria.
Always take a book along when travelling, not your regular guide book, usually a novel connected in some way the where ever I’m visiting. So I took April in Spain’by John Banville, a favourite of mine and I’m not alone, he won the Man Booker Prize, was awarded the Franz KafkaPrize in Prague and appropriately in 2014 became the first Irish author to win the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award for Literature.
Northern Spain may not be the Spain you might expect, The climate is closer to Ireland, a bit warmer in winter. From September to June it ranges from the low 50’s to the low 80’s. So pack some rain gear and an extra layers of clothing. Get used to being in the equivalent of four different countries, different cultures, identities, even different languages. Odds on, you won’t notice. Franco, during the years of his dictatorship tried to homogenise and mold into greater Spain. To some extent Basques, Catalonians, Castilians and Galicians speak with their own languages. You’ll see it along the way, in particular on street signs.
Cudillero
Our first stop was the charming fishing village of Cudillero into Ek Remo, the first of many sideria (cider bars}. While there is always a plentiful supply to good Spanish wine, from not too far away, the Irish like climate is not particularly suited to growing grapes. But it is suited to growing apples, over 200 varieties and they make sierra (cider) and lots of it. But they pour and drink it differently. No pints here, small glass poured from on high and consumed fast – shot style. This method of serving is called escanciar. Essentially it is a way of aerating the cider. The bottle is held high over the head and poured into a tilted glass held as low as possible. The pourer often looks at neither glass nor bottle, straight ahead. There are splashes, a few misses and always a wet floor. Only a small amount of the now aerated cider reaches the glass, maybe an inch or two and it must be drank immediately, never allowed to stand, what remains is simply chucked on the floor. In more refined establishments and restaurants the may provide a bucket.
There is a local explanation, perhaps tailored for me the credulous Irish visitor, that the art of drinking cider may have been part of a Celtic heritage but on sober reflection it probably wasn’t anything of the sort. The Celts did however did arrive here back in the Bronze Age from the North Atlantic
That green coast faces into the Atlantic and the Bay of Biscay. Facing south, the the snow capped Picos de Europa Mountains. While we mostly drove west along the impressive scenic coast through picturesque towns and cities we had to include the mountains, They have been an influence on the region and on the rest of Spain throughout history. Invaders arriving from the south always found these mountainous territory almost impossible to cross. A proud local told me that for that very reason: “Asturias is Spain,” the rest he said “was conquered.” He was referring to the Romans and later the Moors who overran Spain in the 8th century. But this northern coast never really became part of Islamic Spain. It became a refuge for Christians nobles and eventually nurtured the emerging impetus for the Reconquista (Reconquest from the Moors). The Reconquista is said to have begun about 718, in the Battle of Covadonga. In this battle Christians from Asturias won a victory over the Moors.
Aviles and Niemies centre
At Avilés city, the nearby ultra modernist Oscar Niemeyer International Cultural Centre on the Avilés river estuary is well worth a visit. It takes its name from its Brazilian architect, Oscar Niemeyer. Positioned spectacularly on wide open spaces and bright mostly white and yellow shaped buildings sit in sharply contrast to the surrounding industrial sites. A rare opportunity to see one of the few examples of this influential architect in Europe
Cobblestoned town of Santillana del Mar known for its medieval towers and the Romanesque Santa Juliana Collegiate
Oviedo
Oviedo, the Asturian capital city, compact and very easily walkable, exudes a mix of history and an extraordinary range of sculpture… and cheeses – for which you must visit and experience Tierra Astur El Vasco, the largest store dedicated to all conceivable Asturian products: artisanal Asturian cheeses, meats from native breeds, wines and ciders all with the protected Designation of Origin of Asturias and especially the very tasty organic spelled bread. For cheeses may I recommend Afuega’l Pitu, Cabrales, Gamoneu and Los Beyos, these are probably the best.
At the Tierra Astur cider house in Oviedo, I had the privilege of having my cider poured by the Master Escanciador de Tierra Astur El Vasco, Salvador Ondó. He has been the winner of the Regional Cider Pourers Championship at the Cider Museum of Nava for five years in a row. Salvador says he arrived in Asturias when he was just 15 from Equatorial Guinea in Central Africa and he is now 31. His unique cider pouring skills developed over those 20 years and have made him one of the best pourers in Asturias in recent times.(www.tierra-astur.com/) A walk around the city centre will take in the Pre-Romanesque shrine of San Julián de los Prados and the Cathedral of San Salvador, in front which a statue stands, strangely representing hypocrisy and vulgarity, a lady is La Regenta, a character from the 19th century novel ‘La Regenta’ (The Regent’s Wife) by Leopoldo Alas.In the book she is married to an older man and is having an affair with a younger man. When first published it disturbed and scandalized the Oviedo bourgeoisie. Times change or perhaps the book is not well read or known.
The city has a ever multiplying collection of statues, almost as many as there are cheeses. Walk beside Woody Allen along the Calle de las Milicias Nacionales. Woody, it seems developed a particular affection for Oviedo when filming ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’ there in 2008. Just as popular is Mafalda located at San Francisco Park. A character created by the Argentine graphic humorist Joaquín Salvador Lavado Tejón, better known as Quino. There’s ‘Rufo’ the abandoned dog, needing to be petted. There are hundreds more Just 3km outside the city on the slopes of Mount Narancois is the The church of Saint Mary, originally built in 842 as a royal palace. The complex, incorporating the nearby church of San Miguel de Lillo is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Gijon
Had lunch and yes an early small tasting of local cider at Sidrería La Galana on the Plaza Mayor beside the Town Hall. Recommended. www.restauranteasturianolagalana.es/en/
Do not miss Cimadevilla, the oldest part of town and visit the Roman Baths Museum and the ruins of baths and steam rooms- ‘Pompeii-style’ probably best describes it.
We continued west to Llanes with stops at the fishing towns of Ribadesella and Lastres. Ribadesella has one of Spain’s most beautiful beaches facing the sometimes wild Bay of Biscay and backdropped by the Cantabrian Mountains just a few miles inland and stop and wander around Lastres, yet another beautiful cobble stoned fishing village.
And later a seafood dinner at Sidrería El Puerto on fishing harbourside ai Ribadesella. Better bring cash, they don’t accept credit cards opposite, an Irish pub named ‘Slointa’ {sic). Irish drinks here included Bulmers cider sold in pint glasses, how perverted.
Fuentes de Cable Car
The experience you will treasure. If like myself you might feed a bit apprehensive about cable cars, let me assure this one is and and feels very firm and steady. In just a few minutes it takes you 6,000 feet above sea level to the top of the Pico de Europa and to views that are truly amazing. Once at the top you can decide to continue on up further or have a coffee in the café on their panoramic viewing terrace. Even stay overnight at the Hotel Áiva located at the highest point- just a hill walk, no climbing.
Near Potes you can visit the Monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana, a Franciscan monastery and on one of the most holy places of Christianity, ranked up there alongside Jerusalem and Rome. It is approved by UNESCO as an extension of the Santiago de Compostela. It claims to hold the relic of the ‘lignum crucis’, said to be the largest known wood piece of the cross on which Jesus Christ died.
The town of Comillas contains the remarkable El Capricho, a summer villa with all the inventive and experimental features of Antoni Gaudí’s earliest and most flamboyant works. A most visit to enjoy inside and out. Nearby, a Gothic summer palace, the Palacio de Sobrellano built in 1888 for the Marqués de Comillas.
Still on the western coast of Cantabria, in the small town of Ruiloba, I visited a small family owned winery that against the odds produces two white wines and a red La Rioja Alavesa. Tasted good for me, no need of a spittoon here, I had another. All from grapes grown on their north-facing vineyards less than 1 km from the sea. (www.miradorio.com/en/)
On my penultimate day on the northern coast we reach the cobblestoned town of Santillana del Mar known for its medieval towers and the Romanesque Santa Juliana Collegiate Church.(www.spain.info/en/destination/santillana-del-mar/)
Southwest of town, just 2 km from Santillana del Mar is the astonishing Caves of Altamira with paintings from, in plain words, the Stone Age. Works on the rock walls by prehistoric artists using charcoal, ochre or hematite to create the images. They even had the wit to use the natural contours of the rock walls to give a three-dimensional effect to their subjects. For conservation reasons the caves can no longer be visited but there are remarkable replica caves at the visitor centre (www.cultura.gob.es/mnaltamira/en)
Friday our departure day arrived, time to saunter around Santander, last minute shopping but it was not to be. I confess I’m not the most enthusiastic of shoppers so I was happy enough with this divine intervention by the Lady of Aparecida. The Festividad de la Bien Aparecida is a public holiday in Cantabria and observed every year on September 15th. Many shop would be closed. so Plan B with the sun high in the sky, dark clouds on the distant horizon, we decided to take the short boat ride across to El Puntal, a small sandy island where we luxuriated with beer and coffee. On the boat back back we experienced our first Costa Verde rain. And Dublin welcomed us home with even heavier rain.
For more information contact:
Spanish Tourism Dublin
Consejería Española de Turismo en Dublín
Callaghan House
13-16 Dame Street
D02 HX67, Dublin
