Author: travelandtransitions from Youtube, On a gorgeous and warm morning of may 29 2010 i left cangas de onis to drive to the atlantic coastline of my first stop was in ribadesella a picturesque mountain town on the cantabrian sea right where the river sella flows into the atlantic my first destination was the cueva de tito bustillo a limestone cave with prehistoric cave paintings dating back more than 14000 today the cave is a unesco designated world heritage then i started to explore the town ribadesella itself with a walk through the cobble stoned historic city i continued my walk on the extremely scenic paseo maritimo that provided me elevated vistas over the city the river sella and its estuary and the mountainous backdrop framing this gorgeous on the western side of the river are the beaches of ribadesella which are punctuated by several impressive villas and mansions that were built by indianos asturian emigrants who had found great fortunes in cuba mexico and argentina and who had returned to their homeland to build opulent mansions and invest in the local in the afternoon i drove eastwards and made several stops at scenic lookout points over the cantabrian i finally arrived in llanes a scenic coastal town in northeastern asturias and walked through the cobble stoned medieval streets of this traditional fishing then i drove into the mountains as the picos de europa mountain chain almost touches the sea past picturesque high altitude mountain pastures full of cows and sheep i slowly made my way back to the outskirts of llanes where i checked in at my abode for the night the posada de babel an attractivel rural hotel that is surrounded by meadows and i had a lovely chat with the owners blanca and lucas and learned about their transition from a hectic lifestyle in madrid to their contented rural life as hotel in the evening lucas took me into the hotels kitchen and showed me the process of making just the perfect merluza hake the delicate fish was placed on a plate covered with a garlic tomato black pepper sauce and garnished with ginger fried leak and very savoury this meal just melted in my mouth and a restful night in this country retreat got me ready for another day of discoveries in