Visitors to Asturias wake up with a nice dilemma as they plan their day: mountains or the sea. From our base in Gijon, Padma and I could have had either within a few minutes drive. On our last day in Asturias we chose the sea. Our local friends, Terri and Juan, suggested we try Puerto de Vega, a small fishing village where the locals actually fished rather than just appearing to be a charming fishing village for tourists.

We arrived after an hours’ drive and didn’t find the typical traffic jams or full parking lots. We were happy. And we were hungry. We found a table at a harbourside restaurant and couldn’t decide what to order so the waiter brought a platter of four types of fish, lightly barbequed to perfection. We attacked the fish and washed it down with a crisp Galician Albariño while watching the activities in the harbour. It was all perfect.

We took a stroll through the village and found a lonely seaside path with spectacular views of the Cantabrian Sea. Back in the village we watched some boys jumping from the breakwater and were very satisfied that we picked a quiet seaside village for our day’s outing.