Hey! That’s my principality!
Here’s a map to satisfy your curiosity: https://www.google.com/maps/place/33589+Covadonga,+Asturias,+Spain/@43.312553,-5.0595534,18.46z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0xd49df5f8662f05f:0x1c9adf9d5f25fbf9!8m2!3d43.3123308!4d-5.0593809!16zL20vMGhfams?entry=ttu
The site is tied to a very interesting tidbit of European History. You may know that during the 800’s Spain was conquered by the Umayyad Islamic caliphate, and their European expansion was stopped by french Hero Charles Martel “The Hammer” … well they never did manage to conquer the north of Spain that was mostly mountainous land inhabited by Christianized Vishigoths.
The Cathedral of Covadonga is the site of the last stand of King Pelagious of the Visigoths against a much numerically superior Islamic army. Next to the cathedral there is a small chapel built INTO a cave under a waterfall, the Visigoth army survived on honey from the cave and whatever else they could forage and defeated the caliphate invaders in part by throwing rocks at them from the heights.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Covadonga
This battle was historically significant because it was the first meaningful Spanish defeat of the Caliphate and it kicked off the “Reconquista” (The native Spanish reconquering of their own land)
To this day we have a saying that translates into “Asturias (the province where this site lays) is Spain, and the rest is conquered land” (Asturias es Espana y el resto es tierra conquistada)
This site lays in the Cordillera Cantabrica (Cantabric range) which has a lot of beautifull sights, not far from here lays the “Lakes of Covadonga” which are two ancient glacier lakes atop the mountain range and the highest elevation lakes in all of Europe.
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagos_de_Covadonga
https://vivecamino.com/img/poi/av/lagos-de-covadonga_3578.jpg
Please correct any inaccuracies I may have committed … I’m currently on the clock and didn’t have time to double check all the info. Mostly going from memory.
Also feel free to ask any questions, I’m a local that has since moved out of the country and I’m really excited to share my province in my online community.
Incredible post, thnx for sharing!
Thanks for sharing this cool piece of history! Adding Asturias to the list of places I want to visit in Spain
I honestly wish we had a you on every post. But interesante, gracias por tu conocimiento
Post Owns, submitted to BestOfLemmy.
Any stories of wine in Asturias? The wines of cool-climate neighbors in Galicia and País Vasco get well-deserved acclaim, and Rioja sits nearby and prints money; do you know of any brilliant vintners in Asturias doing fascinating things?
Please also feel free to discard that question if you prefer to discuss Asturian cider and beer!
I’m not big into wine, but I do recommend trying “Orujo” if you have a chance; It’s a type of schnapps made out of fermented grape skins and we mix in other flavors making it into a cream almost, like honey or local nuts.
We mostly make Cider, I asume by now you’ve already seen the traditional way of pouring it.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/m6CCLB7dOJU/maxresdefault.jpgYou put the glass in front of you and pour it from as high as you can stretch your other arm so that the stream hits the side of the glass. This helps aerate the cider and makes it taste different.
Absolutely stunning!
new wallpaper
