THREE PLACES, THREE DISHES, THREE MINUTES A project by students of C1 English at EOI Oviedo. Read our recommendations to visit amazing places in Asturias and nearby areas, and to taste the delicious cuisine from these parts of Northern Spain. By Markus Bernet - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12266079 Edited and published by Silvia Ferreiro Sopeña INDEX Page 1 - SILVIA GONZÁLEZ DEL BUSTO recommends: • Amada Carlota in Cabranes • Casa Tataguyo in Avilés • El Sibarita in San Juan de la Arena Page 2 - MARTA LOPEZ BAAMONDE recommends: • Las Catedrales beach between Foz and Ribadeo • Gaivota campsite in San Cosme de Barreiros, • Ribadeo. Page 3 - LUCÍA MENÉNDEZ BARREIRO recommends: • Rodiles • El Gaitero in Villaviciosa • Llanes Page 4 - JOSE MIGUEL MILLA CRESPO recommends: • Coast: Eo Estuary from Los Santos’ Bridge, a tiny sandy cove close to St Antonio beach, and La Canalina beach • Inland: Coballes and Vega de Brañagallones • Elvers al pil-pil Page 5 - JOSE MARÍA CASTRILLO FERNÁNDEZ recommends: • Muniellos Natural Reserve • Carajitos del Profesor recipe Page 6 - JENNIFFER FERNÁNDEZ GONZÁLEZ recommends: • Las Médulas, Peñalba de Santiago and Toral de Merayo Teahouse in El Bierzo • Botillo Page 7 - JAIME GARCÍA LOSA recommends: • Llames de Pría • Grilled fish in a little restaurant next to the beach Page 8 - GERMÁN GONZÁLEZ GARCÍA recommends: • The restaurants La Máquina and Tierra Astur. • Vega de Urriello • Playa del Silencio Page 9 - ENRIQUE CASAL BANCIELLA recommends: • Ballota, Torimbia and Toranda beaches • Deep-fried monkfish, squid rings, stuffed onions and casadielles Page 10 - BELÉN SÁNCHEZ BENÉITEZ recommends: • Via Verde de Fuso de la Reina • Casa Cristina in Tellego • Bueño Page 11 - ANA RIERA PAZ recommends: • The mining village of Bustiello • Colombres • The Bear Trail Page 12 - ANA M. ALONSO FERNÁNDEZ recommends: • Covadonga • Tazones • Tito Bustillo cave • Pantrucu Page 13 - ALEJANDRO RIVERA FERNÁNDEZ recommends: • Gijón • Mieres • San Pedro de la Nave (in El Campillo, Zamora) Page 14 - ANA FLÓREZ GONZÁLEZ recommends: • Oviedo: The Cathedral of San Salvador, Gascona (torto and cachopo), The Campoamor Theatre • Casa Fermín Page 15 - AZUCENA ÁLVAREZ GARCÍA recommends: • Gulpiyuri beach in Llanes • Campa Torres in Gijón • Oviedo Cathedral Page 16 - ISABEL MERINO NATAL recommends: • Driving from Asturias to León through the San Isidro Mountain Pass SILVIA GONZÁLEZ DEL BUSTO recommends: Amada Carlota - La Cotariella, 16 - Cabranes Even if the name doesn’t suggest it, it’s a Japanese restaurant and a hotel country house too, but I’ve never stayed there. I only went to the restaurant. The best about this place is the location surrounded by majestic mountains. The quietness and greenness are astounding. They have a sitting area or terrace where you can have a drink, enjoy the scenery and take photos, so taking your camera or smartphone is a must. The restaurant is run by a couple. They gave us a warm welcome and they treated us fantastically. They only have 4 or 5 tables and you must book at least 24 hours in advance. You can enjoy authentic Japanese food, like Sushi, which is delicious cooked rice shaped into pieces and topped with raw fish like salmon, red tuna... Sometimes it’s confused with sashimi, which is just sliced raw fish. The menu is fixed. You may think that is a drawback, but I appreciated it, because when I go to a Japanese restaurant, I never know what to order… The menu consists of 9 Photo by Silvia González del Busto 2 dishes -which the owner explains in detail- but it is not very heavy on the stomach. The snag is that it’s expensive. It costs 35 euros per person - drinks not included. After the meal, you can have a coffee (Nespresso machine) or a Japanese tea. At the end they will give you an original bill with stamps in Japanese, Photo by Silvia González del Busto 1 but you probably won’t understand anything… Casa Tataguyo (Avilés) – Plaza Carbayedo, 4 I love it but I may be biased because it´s where I was born. I really believe that it has changed a lot lately and it´s not the small grey town that used to be at all. When it comes to food, Avilés is a very important fishing port so you can enjoy wonderful fish dishes, but you can´t miss our famous longaniza de Aviles, (cooked sausage), a typical dish for sharing. Casa Tataguyo is the best place to eat it. El Sibarita - San Juan de la Arena. Soto del Barco. Bajada la Rula. I prefer going there in summer and enjoy the atmosphere of this picturesque fishing port while eating a delicious menu that consists of paella with lobster on the terrace. Then, they will offer you to choose between steak or fish and a homemade dessert. The portions are large. I think that it´s a pleasure to enjoy paella with lobster, considering that the whole menu costs just 20 euros. It´s worth it! -1- MARTA LOPEZ BAAMONDE recommends: First, I am going to talk about Las Catedrales beach. The landscape there is breath-taking, with their high cliffs, the natural arcs, eroded by the sea. It used to be wild, without roads, just paths. Sadly, this is over. Nowadays it has changed for the worst and has become a spot for tour operators. A touristy place packed with tourists. Ecologists have protested about it, and also the local people. The community government (Xunta de Galicia) put an end two years ago. They decided to limit the number of tourists and made compulsory to book in advance on the Internet. Another place which is worth visiting is the Gaivota campsite. It is in San Cosme de Barreiros, close to several beaches. This campsite hasn’t got any tents. Instead, there are wooden huts made of glass and stone. It has been built by an artist called Celso Dourado, who also runs the place. The views from there are amazing, they take your breath away. You can see several beaches around, and you can hear the sea like a commons.wikimedia.org 1 lullaby. Finally, I would like to describe Ribadeo. It is located on the estuary of the river Eo. This village has a street market, which is held every Wednesday and Sunday. There you can find vegetables, clothes, books, etc. There are also other places to visit. For example, La Isla Pancha, a picturesque place, where you can find an old lighthouse, nowadays a hotel. Ribadeo is famous for its excellent shopping areas. There are lots of local stores, which draw lots of people. For example, Marta Barcala, a Galician chain store in Rúa Rodriguez Murias 5 in Ribadeo and in the same street, Valentina a boutique for fashion lovers. Last but not least is Calzados La Moda, a shoeshop in Rúa Reinante 2 in Ribadeo, where they sell the most important shoe brands. Restaurants are also a must. For example, Casa Pepe. commons.wikimedia.org 2 The speciality of this restaurant is grilled steak or pork. You can also order monkfish, cod and hake in several preparations: boiled, grilled or fried. Desserts there are delicious, for example chocolate or rice puddings. -2- LUCÍA MENÉNDEZ BARREIRO recommends: Rodiles has it all: it is a part of the Natural Reserve on Villaviciosa Estuary, a place where you can observe and hear rare birds, enjoy a walk in the eucalyptus and pine forests or on the sand dunes around the beach and learn new things about geology due to the really weird cliffs that surround the beach and the estuary. The beach is very long, almost 1 kilometre of fine sand and some rocks at the end, so you will not have any problem if you want to find space to sit. It has been constantly awarded with the Blue Flag, which means that is one of the cleanest beaches in Spain. It is surrounded by a small forest with wooden tables and benches where you can enjoy your picnic away from the sun and the heat. There is a bar/restaurant right where the forest ends and a lot more if you walk 200-500 meters in either direction. It’s also a good surfing and fishing spot. Near Villaviciosa you can visit El Gaitero Cider Factory, which commons.wikimedia.org commenced in the late 19th century with the first building for making cider. El Gaitero is more than just a brand and a factory, it symbolizes a family way of doing business, based on raw material and product directly linked to the natural essence of the land of Asturias, the cider. It is definitely worth discovering, so as to understand the essence of Asturias and its history. In this visit they will explain how they make cider, and how this process is. At the end of the visit you will have the opportunity to taste a variety of ciders. commons.wikimedia.org Llanes is a very good place to visit in the summer, the city centre is amazing, among other historical structures, it has more than 300 metres of pre-Romanesque wall from the 13th century; the Castle Tower, which is now the site of the Tourist Office; the Basilica of Santa María del Conceyu, which was started in the mid-12th century; the palaces of Gaztañaga and of the Dukes of Estrada and the old house of Posada Herrera, today made into a Muncipal Arts Centre. Llanes also has magnificent beaches, like those of San Antolín, Torimbia, Barro, Celorio, Poo, Sablón and Toró. If you want to have lunch in Llanes, let me give you a tip: I highly recommend you Casa Canene or Covadonga restaurant, they are both in the same street in the centre, and they are cheap.