mountain silently surround me from a distance; all I hear is the
din of the sheep bells, sounding like church bells ringing at high
noon. A driver honks a horn in frustration, but that only makes
the sheep stop in their tracks. With great deliberation, they look
around. Satisfied that they can proceed, they resume their shuffle.
Eventually the stragglers get across. By now, the traffic prob-
ably snakes around the bend and halfway down the mountain.
I see the cars start to move, but I can’t walk back just yet. The
bells clank and the air crackles and the peaks look like cathedral
spires. Around me is a sea of sheep with no shepherd in sight.
I’ve never been anywhere like this. I don’t want to leave.BRUCE SCHOENFELD ( @bruceschoenfeld) last wrote about the
sparkling wines of Sussex, England, for our February/March 2019
issue. This was his third visit to the region of Asturias, and he is
eager to plan another. Award-winning photographer CHIARA
GOIA ( @chiaragoia) has captured images in Mongolia, Cuba,
and Cambodia, as well as in her native Italy.Spaniards needed nearly 800 more years before they finally
managed to expel the invaders, but the Battle of Covadonga
marked the start of the reversal. The natural setting is breathtak-
ing, with a serpentine road leading up a canyon, past a waterfall
and then a small shrine. At the top, shimmering above the mist,
rises the majestic, pink-stone Basilica of Santa María la Real de
Covadonga.
I’ve visited before, but hadn’t taken the time to drive to the
lakes above Covadonga in the Picos de Europa (Peaks of Europe)
National Park. Now up another winding road I go, bound for those
lakes. Trees fall away, and the view opens to a wide sky of cotton
ball clouds.
Then I hear bells. They start softly, but soon their metallic
jangle has drowned out the car radio. I round a bend and see
sheep, what looks like several hundred of them, painstakingly
crossing the road in front of a line of stopped cars.
I park and walk into the nearby brush, inhaling air so fresh that
it sends a jolt of sharpness into my chest. The spiky peaks of the
Fishing traps (left) dry out in Tazones, a seaside village where the waters—and restaurant menus—feature European lobster (right). Opposite: Storm
clouds glide over the Cantabrian Sea toward the steep, rockbound Asturian coast, which foiled invasions and helped foster centuries of autonomy.
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