The Principality of Asturias
Sitting along the "Green Coast" on the Bay of Biscay in northwest Spain is a land of stunning landscapes and outstanding world-class cuisine. Considered the first Kingdom of Spain, the historic region's coast is scalloped with hundreds of small beaches and tree covered mountains, some of which run down to the sea. This autonomous region, which feels and looks different from other parts of Spain, became the cradle of Reconquista, where Christians led by Pelayo, founder of the Christian kingdom of Asturias, began the campaign to reclaim the country after nearly 800 years of Moorish rule. The Reconquista began with the Battle of Covadonga around 718 and ended in 1492 when Ferdinand II, King of Aragon, and Isabella, Queen of Castile, conquered Granada.Take a journey along the verdant Asturian coast
One suggestion for a memorable trip to Asturias is to journey along its 350 kilometer long rugged coastline with its 200 or more beaches, moving from west to east. Arriving from Galicia, with the indispensable Michelin map #572 in hand, you begin in an enchanting “hobbit-like” forest of Taramundi in the heart of the stunningly beautiful, verdant Los Oscos Mountain Range of the Os Oscos-Eo Biosphere, a thousand shades of green, seldom visited by foreigners, and where you will find Teitos, stone dwellings with thatched roofs.The picturesque village of Taramundi, filled with stone houses with slate roofs, has one of Spain’s oldest ethnographic museums, water mills, forges, foundries, and some two dozen artisans such as weavers and knife makers, and the ancient Celtic settlement of Castro de Os Castros. On Easter Sunday the village holds one of the most important cheese fairs in western Asturias, la Feria del Queso y Productos Locales, which attracts artisans from Asturias, Galicia, Cantabria, Castilla-León, Aragón and Extremadura representing artisan cheeses from PDO Afuega´l Pitu cheese, PGI Los Bellos y Collada Cheese, PDO Cabrales, PDO Casín Cheese, PDO Gamoneu, PDO Bejes-Tresviso, DO Arzúa-Ulloa, DO San Simón Da Costa, PDO Tetilla, and PDO Torta del Casar.