We drive two hours west along the stunning jagged northwest coast past high mountains to visit two charming fishing villages, both wrapped around harbors with brightly colored boats bobbing in the water and pretty old white washed buildings trimmed with red or blue and dramatic waves crashing into breakwaters and jagged rocks rising from the seabed.
Luarca is the bigger of the two and we ate at a small charming seafood restaurant overlooking the harbor, La montenesa del muelle. There’s a gorgeous botanical garden atop a cliff between the harbor and the coast that wasn’t really open but we sloshed along a green grassy path past palm trees and pink and yellow camellia trees.
We had razor clams which were strangely long and chewy and grilled octopus with potatoes that also was a little too chewy for me. M&C wisely ordered a salad which came with corn, hard boiled eggs and tuna; and a huge crispy grilled white fish with crispy thin sliced potatoes.
A photo of famous Spanish chef Jose Andreas with the restaurant staff hung near our table. He lives nearby in this region called Asturias.
Cudillero was more compact and spiffed up and I’d like to have spent more time there. We picked up some local sidre (cider). Sadly the grilled sardines I remember eating when we were here in the early fall of 1989 are t available this time of year. Some businesses are closed because it’s off season by the upside: we had these towns almost to ourselves. Apparently they are overrun with tourists in the high season, which displeases some judging from occasional graffiti reading “Locals Only!”
TakeBetsywithyou 