Hi. My husband and I are planning a trip to Spain for September. In addition to seeing the Picos de Europa park, he would really like to go to some of the places in the Potes area where they make and age the cheeses. Of course he wants to sample them! We have also heard that the roasted kid goat from that area is quite good. Does anyone have any knowledge that you can share with us about the area? Thanks.

Try ORUJO, hehehehe :cheers:

Just click here

http://www.cantabriajoven.com/potes/index.html

And just eat EVERYTHING there

Hey, I drove through Junction, TX on Sunday.....on the way from Houston to Albuquerque. (I bought a Subaru Outback on eBay and drove it home.)

Picos de Europa is great, we loved it! We visited in '99. I'll try to find a listing of the places we went.

Paul

I've been to Potes--it's a very beautiful crossroads (near the beautiful Sella river, which is so deep and clear and has a really nice path alongside). Going toward the Picos, as I remember you pass through Desfiladero de la Hermida, which is a very beautiful narrow canyon with interesting microclimates (quite harrowing to drive, but not much traffic to contend with).

I highly recommend the Cadogan guide to Northern Spain for this area--it's the best for historical information and is more literate and interesting than the other guides.

About food... Asturias and Cantabria are cheese-lover's paradise. I want to do a trip like yours--going from cheesemaker to cheesemaker. There are lots of nice rural houses that you can rent in this area. But I'm not sure whether the cheesemakers have the caves and other parts of their operation open to the public. Spain is quite different from France in that it hasn't yet capitalized on the potential of gastronomic tourism... That said, you can always eat the local products in local taverns, sidrerias and restaurants.

The area around Potes is known for "Queso Pic�n Bejes Tresviso" (Tresviso is the town where the animals are raised, though I'm not sure where the caves are). This is similar to Cabrales, Gamonedo and the other blue cheeses in the Picos area of Asturias, all of which are made by mixing sheep's, goat's, and cow's milk.

The cheese is then wrapped up in leaves and then aged in caves for several months. I believe the best time of year to eat it is in November and December (because the spring and summer grazing animals make better milk)--though don't let that deter you from eating it in September.

I'm doing a bit of research on Spanish cheese, so I'll post back here if I find out any more about this region.

I got a really nice book entitled "Cheese from Spain" from the Association for the Promotion of the Cheeses from Spain. The e-mail address for the Madrid office is www.asocpromocionquesos.es.
The address for the New York office is www.cheesefromspain.com That is what made us want to see all the cheese sites. (Ironically, I was trying to get information from the Tourist Agency about places to see in Spain, but the only people I ever got a reply or informaiton from were those promoting Spanish foods.)