The door of the Asturian East. If you drive from the central cities of the Principality to the east, this is how that succession of peaks works that appear a few kilometers from the coast once the highway crosses the Cider Region. On one side the beaches and cliffs, on the other those slopes that ascend towards the Pico Mirueño, La Múa or Pienzu.
It is the Sueve, the first of the eastern mountain ranges, which almost sinks its feet in the Cantabrian and becomes a viewpoint that offers some of the best perspectives of the Asturian coast. So awesome, what's up? legends who say that from their peaks you can guess the british shores in the mist on the horizon. It isn't true, but it's easy to imagine when you take in the views from one of its many twisting roads.
Viewpoint of Fito, Sierra del Sueve, Asturias.
The Sueve is the perfect place to get to know Asturias, to delve into his mountain heart, but also peek into its coastal soul, its cider spirit and the Indian past. El Sueve is Asturias summed up; is panoramic views that are hard to forget, a kitchen in which the sea and the mountains go hand in hand and the most rural face of a principality that, however, there, less than half an hour from there, becomes urban.
The Sierra, which is close to 1,200 meters in altitude, it is the hinge between the center –the regions of Oviedo and Gijón– and the East; the perfect getaway, the door of the Asturian East, that is, well communicated although capable, at the same time, of keep an essence in which you breathe tranquility, another rhythm that suggests that the cities, in reality, are much further away.
AT THE FOOT OF THE SIERRA
Villaviciosa It is not yet the East in the strict sense, but it is the last important town before the Sueve when you arrive from the center of Asturias and, at the same time, the base camp to explore ports such as bowls , which seem to have come from another era or, towards the interior, the valleys full of apple trees until the pre-Romanesque church of San Salvador de Valdediós, in Puelles. If you have an idea of Asturias in your imagination, it probably looks a lot like this.
Back in town, a walk through the small historic center, from the Valdés Palace to the Hevia mansion. And then to eat Firewood, a place where chef David Castroagudín, under the direction of Jaime Uz, who has a Michelin star in his restaurant Arbidel, in Ribadesella (write it down, because it's just a stone's throw away), combines the essence of traditional establishments with a gastronomic proposal a little more elaborate that never abandons the contained prices.
Bowls, Asturias.
This personal view of the cider kitchen unfolds in an interesting menu that reinvents some gastronomic icons of this area: pitu croquettes, mini fair potatoes stuffed with cheeks, Asturian pot with Chosco de Tineo and Foie, potera squid with fermented shallot and Asturian onion infusion, Xaldo lamb a la royale…
Continuing east, already entering the East, Lastres appears, hanging on the slope of the cape. Lastres is one of those iconic images of the Asturian coast, but it is much more than that. It's a marine environment, it's folk architecture, it is a balcony to the cliffs and it is, above all, seafood cuisine.
And to discover it the best is resort to tradition to a tradition that is also being renewed here without losing its identity, hand in hand with the busta brothers, second generation at the helm Euthymius House. Rafa in the living room, María in the kitchen and both in charge of the family cannery, through which the founder continues to pass frequently and where everything, each fish, each can, is made by hand, one by one. Seeing the process of kneading -the traditional elaboration- of the anchovy is, here, almost hypnotic and shows you that quality does not understand rushes and knows no shortcuts.
Upstairs, in the same building, awaits the dining room, with those views that Lastres cannot miss, and dishes such as lobster in two sauces, octopus on mushrooms in cream, the fish of the day. And also meats, for which the Bustas won the prize for the best cachopo in Spain not so long ago.
Lastres, Asturias.
A little further east, the beaches of Lastres, La Isla and La Espasa, one after the other, are among the best sandbanks in the Principality and they are the perfect place to stretch your legs after your meal. For the sand or, even better, for the path that from La Espasa goes to Arenal de Morís, a couple of kilometers of meadows stretching to the edge of the cliffs, horizons that do not end and, at the beginning of summer, serapias, native orchids, appearing here and there like maroon rods among the grasses.
THE SOFT
It is convenient to dedicate to the saw, at least, a full day. And for that the best thing is to look for a nearby accommodation. Caravia is the perfect place for that. Many of his spectacular Indian mansions today they are rural lodgings. Between them, the hotel The Foxhound stands out, on top of the town, with views of the sea in the distance and the slopes of the mountains reaching the very edge of the farm.
The Foxhound is small accommodation, a handful of rooms that occupy the century-old mansion. It is a place of absolute tranquility, of details, of corners; of silence Having breakfast in its gallery, overlooking the garden, is the start perfect for a mountain route.
Hotel La Raposera, Asturias.
Until the port of El Fitu there are a few minutes by car from here, curves and slopes that lead to one of the most spectacular viewpoints in Asturias. But don't stay there. Enjoy the views, which on a good day come almost to Gijón and Cantabria to the other side, but then consider a route, simple, not very long, which will make you forget that just ten minutes there is the highway.
From the viewpoint you will see, across the road, the old mountain refuge. Go up to it, between the pines, and from here follow the path. are something more than three kilometers almost flat and full of sights, wild horses, old sheepfolds and, to your right, on the hillside, one of the largest beech forests of the Asturian coast.
The path continues, flattening between the peaks, until the Braña of Bustacu, with their cabins on the banks of the stream. From here, if you want, you can go up to the mythical Picu Pienzu. There are only 2 more kilometers left, although here the slopes get more serious. Of course, the views will compensate you for the effort.
And already from Return –6 kilometers in total the short option, a little less than 11 if you choose to climb the peak– it is time to afford some joys. And here, in the Sueve, the alegrías are a very serious thing. Because here, in the valleys of the southern slope, is the spectacular PuebloAstur Eco-Resort, a truly special accommodation that occupies a group of rehabilitated houses in the village of Cofiño. The views of the Picos de Europa from rooms in which no detail is missing will make you not want to leave. And breakfast is one of those you will remember for a long time.
Fabes from Casa Marcial, Asturias.
Although that will be tomorrow, today there is still time for some indelible memory more, that's why we have martial house, one of the best restaurants in Spain, just over 4 kilometers.
Go to Martial House is much rather than go to lunch or dinner. It is a ritual that demands calm, forget about rushing to put yourself in the hands of the apple tree brothers, let Juan Luis, the sommelier, advise you, and be happy discovering a contemporary Asturian kitchen and with roots; unpublished, unusual, capable of surprising you, of make you smile and to make you feel at home at the same time. Is a atmosphere that surrounds you. And that, let's face it, happens very rarely.
Casa Marcial is one of those restaurants that They justify a trip by themselves. But here there is no need for something to motivate the escape, a unique item worth the detour. It's not necessary because there are many places that make up for leaving the highway and enter the mountains.
Because there are plenty of reasons to come, to discover the coves and cliffs at the foot of the peaks, enter aimlessly in the woods, stay in unrepeatable mansions and discover another Asturian cuisine. They are reasons to come, but, above all, they are reasons that will make from that first visit Sueve stays forever with you.