Cangas de Onis is a town with two rivers, the Sella and the Guena. We explored a little, bought some beans and cheese to take home, and then sat down with a coffee. Pictures are fuzzy because I put the camera on a semi-automatic P mode with the ISO setting on automatic. It was disastrous – pictures taken with an ISO of 12800…!!!
The Roman Bridge
It is hard to call this ‘Roman’ because it has been rebuilt several times. Nevertheless it is known as The Roman Bridge. The Victory Cross which hangs from the bridge celebrates the victory of Pelayo over the Moors in the 8th century at Covadonga.
The Sella River is apparently a very good salmon river and both rivers give a pleasing appearance to this small tourist town. I wonder if the river floods quite dramatically, as the arches on the bridge are very high?
Big mansions
When we visited Ribadavia we found large mansions built by ‘Los Indianos’, emigrant to America who prospered there and then returned to Spain and built ‘palace’. We now found something similar in Cangas de Onis.
Market Square
Cangas de Onis has a famous Sunday market in this square – sadly we missed it.
Hermitage of Santa Cruz
The hermitage of Santa Cruz was built on a dolmen in 437 and King Favilar rebuilt the hermitage in 737 to guard the Victory Cross. Restoration work after the Spanish Civil War uncovered the dolmen which dates from 3,000 BC. It was of course firmly locked.
Views in the town
Covadonga
Covadonga is a revered place in Spain and much-visited. The cave is where the victorious Spaniards sheltered after defeating the Moor – why did they have to shelter? And the Virgin of Covadonga, who helped the Spaniards to victory, is also kept here. Pelayo and his wife are buried in the cave.
Anyway this place was crowded, even in mid-October. We were disinclined to linger, I regret to say. We came here mainly because we wanted to visit the lakes, but traffic is now limited and at 11.00am that limit had been reached and the road was closed. Can you imagine what it is like in the summer?
The few hours spent in Cangas de Onis were very pleasant indeed and we came away with wonderful, creamy dried beans, goats cheese, and the very strong and smelly cabrales.
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