Asturias
Green Spain between the Atlantic and the Picos.
Asturias is the Spain that isn't in the brochures: green, wet, steep. The Picos de Europa rise to over 2,600 metres a few kilometres behind the coast, and in between lie valleys with more cows than people.
The food is why you come. Fabada, the bean stew. Cheeses from caves — Cabrales, Gamonéu. Cider poured into the glass from a great height so it breathes. And a generation of chefs who have made something out of this farm cooking that Michelin thinks is worth three stars, without betraying the farm cooking.
The Manzanos at Casa Marcial showed the way: the family home in La Salgar, a village you won't find on any map, and a kitchen that explains the world from there.
Asturias is no destination for sun worshippers. It's for people who know why it rains.
We go to Asturias to eat and stay because the landscape demands it. The route: Casa Marcial for the evening that stays with you. Narbasu, the family's hotel at the Palacio de Rubianes, for the nights before and after. And Monte in San Feliz, where Xune Andrade shows at five tables that a mountain village is enough. Come in June or September. In August the coast is full, in winter the passes are closed. Rent a car — nothing works here without one.
