Logbook · 5 places

What to see and do in Morcín

What to see and do in Morcín (Oviedo, Asturias): 5 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Activities · 1 Food and drink

How far each place is from the centre of Morcín

Chapels of the Monsacro 900 m

Towns near Morcín

What to see in Ribera de Arriba 4.3 km · 2 places
What to see in Riosa 6.5 km · 4 places
What to see in Santo Adriano 6.8 km · 3 places
What to see in Proaza 9.6 km · 3 places
What to see in Mieres 10 km · 29 places
What to see in Oviedo 11 km · 14 places
What to see in Quirós 14 km · 3 places
What to see in Yernes y Tameza 17 km · 3 places

Spain › Principality of Asturias › Oviedo › Morcín

What to see and do in Morcín

Morcín
Village
Morcín is a rural concejo of mining and livestock tradition in the heart of Asturias, in the comarca of Oviedo, barely 10 kilometres from the capital and from Mieres. It is made up of seven parishes and 65 population centres, most with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, spread around Monsacro mountain, 1,055 metres high and crowned by medieval chapels; the Aramo mountain range, declared a Protected Landscape, and the Morcín and Barrea rivers complete its surroundings. Coal mining sustained the concejo until the Monsacro pit closed on 31 December 2014, and in 2002 the parish of La Foz received the Prize for Exemplary Village of Asturias for the preservation of its cultural heritage. It now has 2,460 inhabitants.
Chapels of the Monsacro
Monument
On the vega de les Capilles, at around 845 metres on the Monsacro, stand the rectangular hermitage of La Magdalena and that of Santiago, of unusual octagonal plan and 13th-century fabric. Tradition places the Arca Santa here before it went down to Oviedo.
Afuega'l Pitu Cheese Competition
Activity
It began at La Foz de Morcín in January 1981 to rescue a cheese that had almost disappeared and is held on the Sunday after San Antón. The effort worked: afuega'l pitu is today the second Asturian cheese by output, after cabrales.
El Monsacro
Monument
A 1,055-metre mountain known to locals as La Madalena, crowned by two medieval hermitages, that of Santiago and that of la Magdalena, in Romanesque style and built in the twelfth century; tradition holds that the Arca Santa was kept here before being taken down to Oviedo Cathedral, and every summer a pilgrimage climbs up to it. From its summit Oviedo can be seen to the north and the Sierra del Aramo to the south, and its slopes were once crossed by the Ruta de la Plata and the Way of St James. It can be climbed by several routes, the hardest and most used starting from La Collada, along a track of loose stone and mud with stretches of up to 35% gradient.
Afuega'l Pitu
Food and drink
Afuega'l pitu cheese, with a protected designation of origin since 2008, was traditionally made in small farmsteads scattered across the central Asturian valleys and the mountain slopes between the Narcea and Sella rivers. Morcín is among the municipalities included in the designation's geographical area, although it now has no active cheese dairies; production is concentrated in Salas, Grado - the largest producer -, Pravia and Tineo. The region's oceanic climate favours the natural meadows that feed the livestock, better suited to these slopes than farming. The cheese comes in four varieties - atroncau blancu and roxu, trapu blancu and roxu, the latter two kneaded with paprika - and its competition has been held in La Foz since 1981.