The region to which Soto del Barco belongs alternates mountainous systems and wide plains that open to the sea through the Nalón River. A fluvial environment that has been the key to organize this territory throughout history, endowing its people with economic resources and setting the pattern of daily activity.
Soto del Barco, practically the geographical center of the Asturian coast, It includes about 40 square kilometers and is inhabited by more than 4.000 people They are concentrated in the towns of San Juan de La Arena and the capital of the municipality, with the same name. Perfectly communicated (ten minutes from the airport of Asturias, and half an hour from Oviedo and Gijón), crossed by the Cantábrico highway, but keeps a romantic, at times also colonial, with ancestral jetties and mysterious fortresses in the distance. The council owes its name to an old boat that, in the absence of a bridge, was used in the past to communicate the two banks of the Nalón.
Between the two most populated population centers, in the last bend of the Nalón River, we come across A surprising little town. Just a handful of houses and cobblestone streets that lead us to the tower and defensive wall. (private property). A site that was used for strategic purposes in ancient times. On a promontory barely 40 meters high, it provides an excellent visual command over the mouth of the Nalón River and justifies its long history as a fortification. Known as the Castle of San MartinThe current tower stands on an ancient maritime fort. Archaeological excavations have allowed us to date the origin of this site to the Iron Age. Located in the territory of the Asturians, more specifically the Pesicos, it was integrated into the orbit of the Roman Empire, and the area benefited from the development of important roads. The coastal route that connected the Bay of Biscay and Galicia ran east-west through the municipality of Soto del Barco.This route was used in medieval times as a route of the Camino de Santiago. Nowadays it is still one of the most beautiful sections of the Jacobean route of the coast.
Soto del Barco Tourism
On the coast of the municipality, the beach of Los Quebrantos and its surroundings (protected landscape). Wetlands, dune systems and marshes follow one another throughout this geography. In the summer months, the population of San Juan de la Arena is filled with visitors who come to enjoy its cuisine.
The interior of the Council also offers very beautiful landscapes and towns full of charm (La Corrada, La Ferrería, Ranón or Riberas, are some of them), with dozens of routes for pleasant hiking: the Water Route, the Sailors' Route, the Sierra de Pulide Route, the Los Veneros Route or the Santa Eulalia Route.
El architectural heritage is not far behind: churches and chapels, unique buildings (Rula and Fábrica Lis, in La Arena; the unique Church of San Pedro in Soto del Barco and the neo-Gothic church of San Juan de la Arena), Indian houses and palaces (that of the Marquises of Ferrera, in Ponte, with a medieval tower from the 16th century; the one known as the Magdalena Palace in Soto, from the mid-18th century; the Palatial Mansion in the Plaza de Calvo Sotelo in San Juan de la Arena from the 19th century; or the Bouza Palace, in Riberas, a clear example of an Asturian rural mansion).
A dense ethnographic heritage dots Hundred-year-old granaries and breadbaskets in every corner of the municipality.
In Soto del Barco you also have to go to your winches, cider houses and restaurants. Field and sea, synonym of excellent gastronomy: good meats, excellent fish and vegetables. And as monarch Angula, in whose honor a gastronomic festival is celebrated in winter. The eel of La Arena is reputed to be the best in the Cantabrian and the most abundant.
Illustrious figures from a not-so-distant past They have already tasted the sea, the landscape and its food. Poets such as Rubén Darío or Ángel González, the painter Joaquín Sorolla or the Nobel Prize winner for Literature Seamus Heaney.
Text: © Ramón Molleda for asturias.com
