Spain Travel - Asturias: The Hotel La Cepada in Congas de Onis

On May 27, 2010, my last day in Oviedo, the capital of Asturias, had arrived. After a nice breakfast I checked out of the Barcelo Oviedo Cervantes Hotel and started driving through the mountains towards a village called Arriondas. On my schedule for this rather drizzly and cool day was a canoe run down the Sella River with an outdoor adventure company called Fronteraverde. When I arrived there before noon, Juan Feliz, the owner, informed me that a big group had already left to go down the river. The prospect of staying dry on this clammy day seemed rather exciting, so Juan and I started working on an alternate program for today.

Since Juan has grown up in this area he has indepth knowledge of local attractions and places to visit. So we started to work on an alternate independent sightseeing program for me and he suggested that I explore the main town of Cangas de Onís, the historic village of Covadonga and the nearby mountain lakes Enol and Ercina which are jointly called the Lagos de Covadonga,

I thanked Juan for his suggestions and started my drive to Cangas de Onís where I checked into my hotel for the next two days, the Hotel La Cepada. Located on a hillside above Cangas, a mountain town of about 6,700 people, Cangas de Onís has huge historical significance as the capital of the Kingdom of Asturias, which was established in 722 AD after the first major victory by a Christian military following the Islamic conquest.

Built in 2001, the Hotel La Cepada has a gorgeous location above the village of Cangas and all the hotel rooms have large picture windows that provide gorgeous views over the town. Even on this grey and drizzly day the views from my hotel room were phenomenal. My elegant room was appointed with a king size bed, a practical desk and working area, a mini-bar, satellite television, music and free Internet access. This would be a great base for the next couple of days to explore the Picos de Europa mountain region.

Before my tour of Covadonga I had a nice lunch in downtown Cangas at the Vinateria El Palco. Then I had to grab my umbrella because it had started to rain now. Now properly equipped for this weather, I set off on this afternoon's excursions. My destination was the tiny village of Covadonga, one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in Asturias.Covadonga has enormous historic significance as the site of the Battle of Covadonga which the Iberian Christians won over the occupying Moors in 722 AD.

After leaving the most visited monument in Asturias, I continued my drive up the mountains. The western massif of the Picos de Europa was declared a National Park in 1918, the first national park in Spain and it was expanded in 1995 to include an even larger part of this mountain range that spans the Spanish provinces of Asturias, Cantabria and León. However, the fog had rolled in and I had absolutely no visibility of the gorgeous mountains around me.

Frustrated by the weather, the lack of visibility and chilled to the bone I made my way back to the Hotel Cepada to relax and warm up for a few hours in my comfortable room. In the evening I decided to stay in and explore the cuisine in the onsite restaurant called El Cenador de los Canónigos. Even the Prince of Asturias and his wife have enjoyed a meal here at the Hotel La Cepada!

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• travel
• Europe
• Spain
• Asturias
• Cangas de Onis
• Picos de Europa
• Hotel La Cepada