The Magic Of Taramundi In Asturias

With the name of Taramundi you will find on the map of Asturias a town, a parish and a council. In short, various administrative names, but what interests us is that in this Asturian area bordering the Autonomous Community of Galicia you can enjoy a place full of traditions and surrounded by a fantastic natural environment.

Taramundi , cradle of rural tourism

To get an idea of ​​the charms of Taramundi, suffice it to say that in this place the so-called rural tourism in Spain had one of its starting points. In fact, here the reconstruction of the rectory was undertaken to transform it into a hotel complex. A fact that we now see with a certain normality, but that at that time was something really innovative.

From there, visitors to Taramundi have not stopped growing in number, hence the wide range of accommodation, services, exhibitions, restored places, trails or mountain bike routes through this privileged mountainous environment. Some places that the neighbors themselves take care of with great care even if they exploit it economically, which has served them so that UNESCO rewards them with the Biosphere Reserve award.

Hiking in Taramundi

The best way to enjoy all that space is undoubtedly walking, or at least pedaling a bike. For this, various routes are prepared and marked so that it is impossible to get lost.

Specifically, there are six routes: the Water, the Ferreiros, the Molinos, Os Teixos, Ouroso and Erioá routes. But what do these paths offer us? Well, basically they are tours to do in one morning, or at most throughout a day, in which the different villages of the council are discovered, its most incredible natural landscapes and some of the points where one appreciates the ancestral communion between man and nature in the form of customs that are still maintained and that are part of the heritage of Taramundi.

Historical heritage of Taramundi

On the one hand, we should speak of the most monumental heritage of the council, which the truth is that it is certainly highlighted with several dozen religious buildings, although the most striking is the church of San Martín de Taramundi, built at the beginning of the 18th century and which in its interior it keeps an outstanding set of paintings and artistic sculptures.

However, there are two sculptures in Taramundi that are also worth mentioning and visiting. One of them is the Carbayo do Poyo, made on an oak that was planted here in 1584 when Felipe II gave the rank of town to the population.

And the second notable sculpture is the Homage to Manual Lombardero Arruñada, the only monument to a specific primary school teacher in all of Spain.

And to end the historical heritage, we are going to go to the oldest archaeological remains in the area: the Castro de Taramundi. A set excavated in recent years that shows that this place was founded centuries ago, in the Bronze Age.

The ethnographic heritage of Taramundi

In addition to all that has been said, the great attraction of making a getaway to Taramundi is to see how the neighbors have kept many of their traditions, to show them with pride to their visitors. In this sense, the offer of exhibitions and museums is really interesting.

For example, in the old Casona de Villanueva de Bres is the Crafts Center, where there are workshops, you can buy and you can even learn certain techniques.

If Bres is 5 km from Taramundi, the village of Teixois is 4. There you can see the popular architecture of the area in all its splendor, as well as various hydraulic devices, from a fulling mill to a power station, a sharpener or a windmill.

But if we want to see mills, we must go to Mazonovo where 19 mills are concentrated in an incredible museum for children and adults.

And there are still more places of interest, such as the Museum of Cutlery located in Navallas de Taramundi, the House of Water in Bres or the Ethnographic Museum of Skiing. And all this at very short distances that invite you to walk to enjoy the landscape of this attractive place that has become a regular destination for any lover of rural tourism.