This is Asiegu, Exemplary Town of Asturias 2019

Asiegu is a simple Asturian village of serene beauty, where the magic of its atmosphere, and the legendary halo of an intense past full of mystery, make it very special. So this unique place, located between the Sierra del Cuera and the Picos de Europa, in the council of Cabrales, is absolutely deserving of the award of Exemplary Village of Asturias 2019.

Peaceful and humble, Asiegu is glimpsed in the middle of a hill, gently sloping down the hillside, as if it wanted to caress the Picos, and Asiegu has been contemplating and being contemplated for thousands of years by one of the totemic mountains in the history of mankind: the Urriellu peak or Naranjo de Bulnes. And this circumstance undoubtedly imprints character. That is why it is no coincidence that its inhabitants are observant, discreet and affable.

A stroll through this village and a chat with its proactive inhabitants will fill your soul with heartfelt stories and your retina with incredible landscapes, as if you were in a place of eternal reverie and infinite charm.

In Asiegu the hours do not pass, and at the same time, you will lack hours to savour so many corners and so much collective memory sculpted in every corner.

Twenty-one neighbourhoods make up this village where paths and viewpoints, traditional houses, panoramic benches, "chigres" and "llagares", or the constant wandering of locals and tourists give it a different air, which seems to be animated and sustained by the impressive telluric force that you will feel in Asiegu, as if this place had a powerful energetic connection with mother nature.

So here are the best things to see and do in Asiegu!

Since time immemorial, the shepherds and livestock farmers of Asiegu have climbed with their livestock during the spring and summer to the Tebrandi sheepfold, a place that seems to have been drawn by the gods for the enjoyment of humans.

Tebrandi is pure landscape poetry, as from this vantage point any direction your gaze takes will lead you to the endless beauty of the Asturian mountains. The three massifs of the Picos de Europa, Mount Sueve or the Sierra del Cuera itself, where the sheepfold is located, are some of the horizons you can see.

The sun's rays caressing the huts and the mountains, the caress of the wind and the sound of the cattle make Tebrandi a place for meditation, relaxed conversation or simply contemplative life.

Even the toponym is sonorous and friendly, and means something like "place abundant in fog", precisely because of the fog that rises up there from the coastal rasa on the other side of the Cuera.

From the Tebrandi sheepfold, the nearest peak of the Sierra del Cuera is the Tiedu peak. This peak, which the locals of Asiegu, whose nickname is caruvinos, consider almost their own property, will show you a friendly profile, as if it were telling you to come up here and contemplate the panorama.

The Tiedu is such a humanised peak that even cattle graze on its slopes with complete familiarity. It also holds the geodesic honour of being the prow of the Cuera mountain range to the west, which is no mean feat, especially considering that this mountain range extends 30 kilometres parallel to the coast, a unique fact in the orography of the Asturian mountains and the Iberian Peninsula.

Have you heard of the tomb of the giant of Asiegu? Well, everything points to the fact that it existed and that its burial place is in an archaeological area called Taranu, perched on the highest point of this village.

Taranu is a spectacular site due to its location and its vibrations. At your feet you will find treasures from the Bronze Age - such as the 14 axes from this prehistoric period that have been found there -, the giant's tomb, or the remains of a castle...

In addition, the sunset at Taranu is indescribably beautiful. It will give you the sensation that the Celtic god Taran, divinity of war and thunder, could appear before your eyes as if he had risen from the bowels of the earth.

As if that were not enough, to complete the scene of magic and legend, from the Taranu, another giant, the Urriellu, is only 12 kilometres away in a straight line and is like another all-seeing deity...

It is more than evident that Asiegu is a prodigy when it comes to panoramic views, and a magnificent example of this is its famous "Pedro Udaondo" viewpoint, which bears the name of this illustrious Basque mountaineer who died in the Picos de Europa in 2007, the same year that this viewpoint was inaugurated.

At the time, the locals wanted to pay homage to a person in love with the Picos de Europa, who represents an example of solidarity and dedication to the mountain and the memory of the Cabraliega, and the result was a unique place to observe and enjoy the thousand faces that the Urriellu offers throughout the day and night.

You will simply be enthralled...

The Venida de les Vaques, devised to celebrate the award of Exemplary Village of Asturias 2019, is simply a brilliant initiative, which has turned one of the many paths that surround the village of Asiegu, specifically that of Las Prunales, in the district of La Pandiella, into a unique passage in the world.

Why? Because a Corten steel sculpture in the form of a railing turns the path into an authentic artistic viewpoint, given that the piece has drawn twenty-one cows, as many as there are districts in Aiegu, which are projected onto the landscape, providing it with a new framework and a new dimension, while at the same time tracing a tribute to shepherding in the Cuera and the Picos de Europa.

The author of the work of art is a well-known sculptor called José Sahagún, with family and emotional ties to Asiegu, who wanted to capture for posterity the immense inspirational potential of the rural, natural and human environment of this village that seems to have been taken out of a mystery story...

The parish church of San Miguel de Asiegu contains a valuable treasure inside, namely its mural paintings, dating from the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

Both in the vault and in the altarpiece, the harmonious chromaticism and the measured composition bring to mind the best rural baroque in a religious building.

The paintings in this church of San Miguel were rescued from oblivion and restored just over a decade ago, and today they are undoubtedly one of the great attractions of Asiegu, on a cultural tour.

The Caleya neighbourhood is the oldest neighbourhood in Asiegu, and dates back to medieval times. And the truth is that a stroll along its paths gives you an idea of the tradition and antiquity of this village of Asiegu.

La Caleya has many traditional Asturian houses, and in some of them time seems to have stopped completely. It is like travelling back a hundred years in just a few metres.

This neighbourhood distils in each of its corners all the rural knowledge, from which the new generations drink, making Asiegu an exemplary village day by day.

Moreover, the neighbourhood is full of romantic and tragic stories, such as that of the Mayoraza, which the residents of Asiegu tell you along the paths.

The same paths lead you from the neighbourhood of La Caleya to the Casa del Cuetu de las Abellotas, one of the oldest in this village, and which is located just above the historic neighbourhood. Everything suggests that this house was an old medieval inn linked to the Camín Real, and even to the Jacobean Route, and the truth is that when you arrive at this place something different floats in the air, with the company of the holm oaks that surround the old site...

This route, born out of the imagination and knowledge of the brothers Manuel and Javier Niembro, natives of Asiegu and pro cabraliegos, is the best way to get to know the peasant worldview and the rural universe of the Picos de Europa. The route is an interpretation of the landscape and its figures, at the same time as it delves into what has been an age-old way of life.

The visit to a cheese factory, to a cave where Cabrales cheese matures, to a cider mill where cider is made, the gastronomic experience with which the route ends, but especially the experience of more than three hours with the lively explanations of these brothers, make the Cheese and Cider Route one of the best ways to get to know rural Asturias, its history and its present.

And of course it is a way of putting Asiegu and all its convivial and wise environment on the map.

It is clear that the number 21 is very symbolic for Asiegu. If twenty-one are its neighbourhoods, twenty-one are the cows of its Venida de les Vaques, and twenty-one are the benches around the village.

Asiegu's famous sponsored benches are thus symbolically sponsored for a limited period of time, which once finished gives them the option of having a new sponsor.

All the benches are located in strategic places where the views and the scenery are of great beauty, so that going from bench to bench is a real tourist and cultural journey through the rural environment, and the fact of sponsoring one is a way of supporting the life of the village.

Those who are passionate about the Picos de Europa and those who capture light and shadow say that the sunsets in Asiegu are among the best you can experience in the Picos de Europa.

The truth is that in the evening hours, the stillness of the village gives you an incredible feeling of wellbeing, and from any corner of Asiegu, the landscape is transformed, as if it was time to withdraw, or dream, or whisper...

And as a backdrop, always the great icon, the peak of Picos, the eternal Urriellu...