The heart of Northern Spain and in many ways it’s most beautiful part. Certainly the rugged scenery of the Picos de Europa, with its plunging valleys and deep gorges, offers some of the finest views to be seen in Europe. There are lush forests, a colourful array of wild flowers and all manner of wild-life, from wolves and bears to vultures and eagles.
There are delightful seaside towns with quiet beaches, and bigger resorts like Gijon or the ferry port of Santander, which offers a casino and a variety of smart shops and elegant restaurants. An hour’s drive from Santander is the delightful village of Santillana del Mar which is unchanged from the times when the fictional hero Gil Blas is supposed to have lived there: grand noblemen’s houses overlook delightful narrow, cobbled streets along which cows are driven every morning and evening, as they have been for hundreds of years.
This area is rich in history. It was here, near Oviedo, that the fight to reconquer Spain from the Moorish invaders began in 722 when a small but significant defeat was inflicted against them in Covadonga, a marvellous spot in the foothills of the Picos. Oviedo has played a significant part throughout Spanish history. The country’s capital for a short time at the start of the Reconquest, it was at the centre of events during the turbulent years of the thirties because of the unrest among the miners of the surrounding Asturian coal-fields. Further inland the scenery becomes mellower and the weather hotter. The countryside around Leon is scorched. The city itself is a visual feast; from the magical stained glass of the cathedral to the exuberant façade of the Hostal San Marcos, once a medieval hospital but now one of the finest hotels in the world. Like Leon, Burgos (in the south-east corner of this area) was an important staging post on the Pilgrims’ Way to Santiago — and it too has a spectacular cathedral, plus a supporting cast of other worthwhile sights to see.
If on your holiday you never venture outside this central region, you will have more than enough to keep you busy and happily enthralled.
