Teverga

Winner of the Exemplary Town of Asturias 2013 Award, Teverga has been inhabited since prehistoric times, as evidenced by the Fresnéu Cave Shelters. Throughout history and as a border land with the Meseta, it has witnessed many transits: that of the Roman legions through the Camín Real de la Mesa; that of the Relics through the Puerto de Ventana – a natural connection with León -, and those of so many who found in Teverga a prosperous and rich land to work the land, look after the livestock in the brañas or extract from its entrails the coal of one of the richest seams in Asturias.

Today it is part of the Ubiñas-La Mesa Natural Park – which it shares with Quirós and Lena – and which has been declared a Biosphere Reserve, and there are many natural landmarks that Teverga offers the visitor: the Peña Sobia – an immense limestone mass -; the Puertos de Marabio with its natural lagoons, chasms and caves; the Xiblu waterfall; thePuerto de San Lorenzo, which is the connection with Somiedo; Cueva Huerta or the Ventana pass. As far as facilities are concerned, there is the Prehistoric Park in San Salvador D’Alesga, where you can see reproductions of Cave Art from all over the Atlantic Arc, and as far as religious heritage is concerned, the Collegiate Church in La Plaza, one of the few in Asturias that also has the ‘magical’ historical ingredient of the mummies of the Marquis of Valdecarzana and his son, the bishop, and the Hermitage of Cébrano, are particularly noteworthy. Teverga’s mining past can be seen in the form of castles such as Pozo San Jerónimo in Santianes.

Teverga also offers tourists the possibility of guided visits to Cueva Huerta, thanks to a footbridge built for this purpose, as well as to the Collegiate Church of San Pedro and its recently restored cloister. The Senda del Oso also runs through Teverga in two sections: the descent towards Tuñón and another that, from Entrago, provides access to the Prehistoric Park and Cueva Huerta.

In the area around San Salvador D’Alesga you can also see the ruins of the ancient castle of Alesga, one of the few examples of civil architecture from the Ancient and Middle Ages that remain in Asturias. There are also ethnographic elements such

as the “brañas” and the “corros”.