To reach this small town at the foot of the Picos de Europa mountains, you have to travel through a long and deep gorge cut through the limestone range.

The difficulty the terrain presents to the traveler is recognized in the memorial to the rural doctors who had to brave both weather and mountains to reach the out lying villages.

The gift shops that abound here sell equipment for distilling alcohol - clearly an age old and popular past time with the residents in these isolated outposts!