Spain & Portugal – Luarca and Navia – The Travelling Watson's

Luarca, “‘The White Town of the Green Coast”

Luarca is a coastal town 40 km east of our camp site. It has a reputation as the prettiest town in Asturias and the White Town for all the white houses. We agree on both counts.

Umbrella Street

The main square with a beautiful white building with a white church on the cliff top.

Naturally we had to check out the shops and a market or two,

This guy does some beautiful leather work. He loves Australia and made his Spanish version of our Akubra.

He uses this press for closing clips. It’s unique in that it is a screw down mechanism which gives a lot more subtlety on the pressure. Never seen one before.

Another wonderful piece of design and workmanship.

A fisherman obviously proud of his boat.

If you want to see anything there is always a climb involved.

The local beach with its array of dressing sheds.

The objective of our climb. An old cemetery with a view, church and lighthouse.

Most notable resident is 1959 Nobel Prize winner Severo Ochoa, physician and biochemist, for the discovery of DNA.

Plots with a great view.

The views from the cemetery were indeed spectacular and a spectacular day to take advantage of them.

I love this guy’s arrogance.

Old harbour master’s office.

Very impressive viaduct.

Luarca is indeed a gorgeous town with very few tourists and a real pleasure to be in. Plenty of great food and wine, real markets where locally produced goods are on offer, and lots of shopping. What’s not to like?

On the way home we stopped in at Navia for a quick look. Another coastal fishing village, it doesn’t have a lot to offer. To be fair we did arrive in the middle of siesta when absolutely nothing happens in country Spain.