Luarca
Camino del Norte
Luarca wraps around a bend in the Río Negro, with monuments, beaches, and accommodation split across both banks. On the way in, five Casas de los Indianos line the camino — the Villas Excelsior, Cristina, Rosario, Argentina, and Barrera — each a testament to the fortunes made in the Americas and brought home to impress.
The old town clusters around the river crossings. The headland walk to the faro and the Capilla de la Atalaya provides the best views — a steep hike, but the panorama of the town curving around the river mouth is worth it.
The Cementerio on the headland is one of the more dramatically situated in Asturias, perched above the cliffs. Severo Ochoa, the Nobel Prize-winning biochemist, is buried there — a native of Luarca who left for Madrid, then New York, and whose scientific legacy far exceeded anything the town expected of a grocer's son.
Bars, restaurants, and accommodation on both banks. A good town to spend an extra evening.
The fiesta of Nuestra Señora del Rosario is celebrated on the 15th of August and San Timoteo is celebrated on the 22nd.
Severo Ochoa de Albornoz, born in Luarca in 1905, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1959 for his work on RNA synthesis. His career took him from Asturias to Madrid, Heidelberg, Oxford, and finally New York, where he spent most of his working life. He is buried in the clifftop cemetery overlooking the town.
Leaving Luarca the camino climbs a bit, winding its way uphill though a residential expansion of the city. The road straightens out and levels off, and the camino follows it all the way to Otur. It crosses the N-634 along the way and when it passes through Otur (which is located on the N-634) it does so to the south of town.
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