Cangas de Onis

The town of Cangas de Onis itself is a bit of a letdown, the only sight worthy of note being the Roman bridge; the monastery of Villanueva, now a lovely Parador, lies just outside the town. Perhaps its greatest claim to fame, and a significant one at that, is its proximity to the site of the battle of Covadonga, in which the Asturian Pelayo kicked the crap out of a hugely superior army (numerically) of Moors, going down in history as the starting point of the reconquista. The exact margin of numerical superiority is a contentious point, with estimates ranging between 186,000 to as little as 800 Moors, against a mere 300 Asturians. Apparently only a dozen or so Asturians survived with claims of over 100,000 Moorish casualties. Implausible perhaps, but the bad guys' leader was slain and they all ran away, which is after all, the most important bit, meaning that the Kingdom of Asturias was rid of the oppressive yoke of Islam and could become a stronghold from which the remained of Spain was ultimately liberated.