Avilés
So here we are, another day more, and another of my one-day trips. I found it useful to know exact date of the trips when I am planning one, because it is not the same if you go in season of vacations or some holidays, or even on winter or summer. So somehow, I will always mention the date of my trip. This one was on 15 April 2019, and it was in Asturias.
Well, I like Asturias. If some day my slow human wakes up, and starts to do thing faster, you will see how many times I’ve visited Asturias, and how did I enjoy.
But for now… first order of business, as my humans said, is get me tired. What place would be better for that than beach?
Playa de Xagó is a beach located in the town of Llodero that belong to the council of Gozón. It has almost 2 km of beach in length and a dune space of approximately 350 000 m², which makes it included in the Protected Landscape of Cabo de Peñas. And later on I will tell you something about Cabo de Peñas too.
This beach is mostly known for a strong waves, due to the prevailing winds in the area, so many surfers and windsurfers come here as well.
I did a little bit of everything. I was fetching the stick, swimming, digging, rolling myself in sand, running, chasing tennis ball and I met some new friends. They were all cool.
After good walk on the beach, I examined some rock. They say the rocks here are pretty cool and interesting for geologist. I don’t know, they just smell as a rock, no biggie.
Doing 2 km up, and 2 km down, with all that exercise, it was exhausting. But the most important of all, it was almost lunchtime, so we decided to wrap it up and go.
Next on the list was Cabo de Peñas. It is close, and we would find a place to eat there.
But of course my humans had another plan. They said first walk, then eat. And because I am a good doggo, I just did what they said.
Cabo de Peñas is the most northern cape of the Principality of Asturias, Spain, and is located in the Mancomunidad Cabo Peñas (mancomunidad is a free association of a commonwelth of municipalities), formed by the councils of Gozón (with capital in Luanco) and Carreño (Candás).
The area was declared a landscape protected by Decree 80/1995, becoming part of the Regional Network of Protected Natural Spaces of Asturias (RRENP).
On our walk by cliffs, we found Cabo de Peña Lighthouse. It started working 1952, and since then it was upgraded several times, including electrify, installed siren and radio beacon.
It is one of the few lighthouses in Spain that still have a lighthouse keeper, an office on the edge of its extinction due to the automation of almost all the lighthouses in the world.
But my doggie friends, if you wanna see the lighthouse up close, you have to go with a leash. The lighthouse currently has a museum of marine themes on the ground floor of the building.
Then I was just walking, waiting my humans to say it is time to eat.
There is no need to say that you have to be extra careful here. Just look at my walk on the edge.
But there are also some cool parts of the cliffs you can use as a playground, if you are clever.
And some views are just breathtaking.
And finally, after a walk we get back to a car, where we found this beautiful green field, and we eat there. So peaceful, lovely nature, few seagulls and a food! Did I say life is good?
Ok, so my humans said we are not done yet. It was early, and we stopped by to a small village there, called Luanco.
Luanco has its own small beach that leads you to a stunning old building that is actually Santa María Church. No wonder why it is declared a Historic Artistic Monument.
We made small tour through the village that you can see in gallery. Next to visit was Avilés.
Avilés is located only 25 km from Gijón, 27 km from the capital Oviedo and is connected by a wide network of highways, rail and bus, being also one of the main fishing and merchandise ports of Spain.
In its old town it preserves a historical artistic complex composed of several palaces, noble houses, churches, squares, streets and large parks, together with a cultural heritage. We tried to see some of it. On the photo above you see Capilla de Rivero (Chapel of Rivero).
Here we are in front of Palacio de Llano Ponte from XVIII century.
Roaming the streets of Avilés we get to the Palace of Camposagrado. It is a building of Baroque style with amazing details on its facade. Two main facades were built in XVII century.
Passing by the Palace of Camposagrado, on the right trough the narrow street we came to The Church of Los Padres Franciscanos.
The central part of the church is the oldest building in Avilés that dates back to the XIII century. It is built in Romanesque style, while two chapels that were added later were built in gothic style: the one on the left, Pedro Solís Chapel (on a photo) from XV century, and baroque style: the one on the right, El Cristo Chapel from XVII century.
One interesting fact: the mortal remains of Pedro Menéndez, the popular seaman from Avilés who founded the first city in The United States of America “San Agustín de la Florida”, are kept in this church.
When we were done with the Avilés, we still needed to check one more thing. It was The Philippe Cousteau Anchor Museum in Salinas.
It was a little cloudy, and we had a problem to park, but look at that from the positive side: we stretched paws across the beach, because we parked on one side of the beach, and museum is on the other.
This open-air museum include sails and deck anchors and it rises like a lookout tower on La Peñona Peninsula, a natural promontory surrounded by sea on one end of Salinas Beach, in the borough of Castrillón.
It is an original creation intended to pay a continued, loving tribute to the sea, its people and the entire culture it represents.
There are a few viewpoints here, and statue of Phillipe Cousteau. He was a diver, sailor, pilot, photographer, author, director and cinematographer specializing in environmental issues, with a background in oceanography.
And that would be all...
Until the next one.....
Aby
