A place called Potes

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Despite all the vicissitudes that have occurred during its thousand-year-old and rich history, there is no doubt that Potes still retains enough cultural power and charisma to be one of the most charming, charismatic and, of course, mountain towns picturesque Spain.

Located, practically, in the geographical center where three main valleys converge -Camaleño, Vega and Cabezón de Liébana- and located, as it could not be otherwise, on the side of the gentle passage of rivers, such as the Deva, whose course, adding the auxiliary waters of other tributaries, has been forming the unearthly unevenness of the impressive Hermida gorge, Potes can be considered, with all fairness, as the undisputed Pearl of the Picos de Europa mountains.

Already in the past, when, depending on the old monastery of San Martín de Turienzo - better known today as Santo Toribio de Liébana - it was known by the name of Pautes, it was the main center of activities in the area, grouping, as It could not be otherwise, the main of its markets, where, since times that we would have to go back to the Neolithic -following the advice of the prolific British writer, G.K. Chesterton, about the fact that any self-respecting biography must begin from the genesis- to the present, the main attraction was the fairs dedicated to the exhibition and sale of the superb bovine breeds of the region.

It is true, on the other hand, that that Potes of clear medieval reminiscences -here the famous Marqués de Santillana had his fiefdom and possibly due to this detail, since ancient times this area has always been called 'the Asturias of Santillana'- saw a change its original appearance, unfortunately, as a consequence, above all, of that unfortunate episode in our history, which was the Civil War.

A war that, back in 1936, destroyed, to a large extent, what Napoleon Bonaparte himself could not achieve in 1811, when General Roguet tried to attack, without success, this glorious town, which, at that time, housed the Headquarters of a Spanish soldier, of recognized fame and street privilege in the Center of Madrid: Juan Díaz Porlier.

But even so, Potes knew how to lick his wounds and although in the reconstruction many keys to its ancient essence were lost - something that tourists do not know, for example, is that many of the lavish noble shields that prevail on the facades of some old mansions , they have changed places - it still continues to be that privileged fabled place, where wandering through its old town, which descends, especially along the left bank, to the very waters of the Deva, accompanying it on a pleasant riverside walk, constitutes, without a doubt, a delicious adventure worth embarking on.

Above all, if it begins a few meters away from the arcades of its main street, in a narrow alley, whose name, Cantabra, is an open door, metaphorically and comparatively speaking, to that small paradise of delight, which are the apartments and the cheerful places of restoration, where not only the visitor is encouraged to participate in the Spanish customs of a lifetime, such as that infallible method of socializing, which here we call 'the tapas' or 'the appetizer', but also, to fall in love of the rich, consistent and varied traditional cuisine, where it must be recognized that here, in the North, it is exaggerated, both in terms of quantity and quality.

Of course, always in sight and silhouetted against the marvelous background of the imposing mountains, the compact medieval Tower of the Infantado, encourages, with its permanent exhibition, to enter the early medieval cultural world, savoring, as it could not be less, that wonderful illuminated manuscript - that is, illustrated - made by the copyist monks of the Santo Toribio monastery in the 9th century, based, according to the spiritual conception of that time, on the most cryptic of the Four Canonical Gospels: the Apocalypse of Saint John.

Also to the right of the Deva River and crossed one of the old stone bridges, the medieval tower of the Lama, encourages the visitor to enter this dark world of witchcraft and its counterpart, initiated by the terrible persecution practiced by the Inquisition, where the application of torture to obtain the confession of some defendants, who on many occasions, used to be victims of the envy of a neighbor, reached unparalleled levels of sadism.

But this is part, as was said in the past, of that general feeling, which supposed that there could be no Paradise without its corresponding serpent and it does not cloud, in any way, but rather complements, that cultural aspect, which makes trips, in addition to pleasure, they also have the attraction of being able to become, even for a few moments, a true walk through History and its disconcerting chapters.

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NOTICE: Both the text and the photographs that accompany it, as well as the video that illustrates it, are my exclusive intellectual property and, therefore, are subject to my Copyright.

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