Every imaginable type of goods -- shoes, batteries, candy, clothes, fresh produce -- lined the shelves. A bar serving coffee, local wines, beer, cheeses and snacks was tucked in one corner. A small group of locals clustered there instantly made way for a stranger. One customer who had come to buy lettuce nodded buenas dias and waved me ahead of him. Another man looked up from his paper to see what the commotion was about, and then came over to shake hands.
Pretty soon the owner, Jose Nino, was pulling out jars of honey, handcrafted knives and other regional products. The white-haired 69-year-old explained that the store, originally built by his grandfather, had been in his family for 90 years.
In Spain's Santa Eulalia de Oscos, artisans still practice traditional crafts and restaurants serve farm-fresh food.
(Gary Lee - The Washington Post)
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"At my age, I should be thinking of retirement," he said, with a wink that suggested he would never think of doing any such thing. "But then, how would the town survive?"
The surrounding region seemed to welcome me as I wandered through it. At the bakery Pan de Santalla, owner Leonar Cancio stopped kneading dough to explain the local bread-making customs. When I found the tourism office closed, I dropped into the nearby town hall where Marcos Nino, the mayor (and son of the storekeeper), cleared his schedule to help me craft an itinerary. (The tourism office, which otherwise would have done that job, is only open in the summer high season and on weekends.) At her weaving studio, Villar seemed delighted to take a break and walk me through the process of growing and plucking cotton, threading the loom and producing her wares. When we dropped in on Magadan, the 75-year-old knifemaker, he demonstrated his craft with a care that comes with 50 years of practice.
On the third morning, the mayor piled Linares and me into his car for a tour of the surrounding area. As he navigated the winding roads, he offered a short history of this part of Spain. Celts moved into the area in the 3rd century B.C., mingled with the Iberians and left some lingering marks on the culture. One is the tradition of making and serving hard cider. The apple trees throughout the area provide the raw material. In pubs, bartenders pour it by holding the bottle high in one hand and the glass low in the other so that it foams up as it splashes. Another is knifemaking, an offshoot of the metal works that were a Celtic specialty.
The agrarians who established homesteads in the area bought their freedom from Iberian gentry in early December 1521. Their liberation coincided with Santa Eulalia's feast day, Dec. 10, which gave the town its name. The rich meadows made for fertile farmland and gave way to cattle farming. The recent wane in the beef industry has dampened the region's prosperity, however. Since the 1950s, more than 1,500 residents have left the region, leaving clusters of farmhouses vacant.
But with the coming of the European Union, the area has gradually transformed itself into an enclave of agritourism, a term used to describe farms-turned-inns that welcome travelers. In the town of Taramundi, a guide showed us an abandoned iron mine that had been turned into a successful tourist attraction. As he led us through the hamlets surrounding Santa Eulalia, Nino spoke of plans to expand the scattering of guesthouses and restaurants.
The Casona del Bosque de Pumares, where I stayed, provided a good model. Owners Juan and Juano Martinez first came here more than a decade ago from Madrid to visit friends. Eventually they bought the farmhouse and spent a year and a half renovating it and converting it into guest lodging. The result is a nine-room haven decorated with antiques. The neighbors had pitched in to help with the project, explained Juan, a retired advertising executive: "We had never been in a place where it felt so easy to become part of the community."
I knew what he meant.
Gary Lee will be online to discuss this story at 2 p.m. Monday during the Travel section's weekly chat at www.washingtonpost.com.
Details: Santa Eulalia de Oscos, Spain
GETTING THERE: The most scenic route is to fly to Madrid and make the five-hour drive to Santa Eulalia. The lowest wintertime Dulles-Madrid flight I found is on Northwest Airlines for $450 round trip, via Amsterdam, with restrictions. To cut the drive to an hour, change planes in Madrid and fly to the city of Coruna and rent a car there; fares from D.C. start at $600 round trip.
WHERE TO STAY: La Casona del Bosque de Pumares (011-34-985-621-297, www.casonapumares.com) is a meticulously restored farmhouse in the neighboring hamlet of Pumares. Doubles go for $85 a night; breakfast is an additional $9 per person. Casa Pedro (011-34-985-626-097) is a modern eight-room guesthouse on the Plaza de Sargadelos in Santa Eulalia's town center. The rooms, all with lovely mountain views, start at $50 per night. Breakfast is $5 more. Owner Pedro Martinez, who speaks some English, offers caring, personal service and can arrange hikes, visits to the local knifemaker and weaver, and other activities.
WHERE TO EAT: Casa Pedro (see above) has two restaurants, one featuring a basic daily menu of soup and a main course at $20 per person, the other specializing in the tasty, organic beef, pork, cheese and vegetables of the region. A copious lunch at the latter, with a good bottle of Spanish wine, runs about $70 for two.
At Meson La Cerca, owner Leonor Villaneuva offers a good selection of local specialties, including an excellent cheese board, ham and natural cider. Dinner, with wine, costs $45 for two.
TOURS: For a custom tour of Santa Eulalia and the surrounding region, including lodging and the services of guide Carlos Linares, contact the travel agency Madrid & Beyond (011-34-91-758-0063, www.madridandbeyond.com). Rates vary according to the size of the group, level of accommodation and season.
INFORMATION: The Santa Eulalia tourism office (011-34-985-621-261) provides good tips, but the clerks speak only Spanish and it's open weekends-only in the off-season. For more information about the Spanish state of Asturias, contact the Spanish Tourist Office, 212-265-8822, www.okspain.orgwww.Spain.info/TourSpain.
-- Gary Lee
