The Princess Eleanor highlighted this Saturday the “constant challenge” of living in a high mountain town like Sotres and he has said that his neighbors, those who arrived decades ago and the young people recently settled, are an example “for their ability to take care of traditions and to innovate”, something that is not easy.
This is what the princess of Asturias in the speech given during the visit he made, together with the kings and his sister the Infanta Sofía, to Sotres, Exemplary Town Award 2024a town in the council of Cabrales located at 1,050 meters of altitude and with 108 inhabitants.
Located in the Biosphere Reserve (UNESCO) and National Park of the Peaks of EuropeSotres is one of the highest towns in Asturias and its economic activity is based on livestock and countryside, tourism and agri-food businesses specialized in the production of Cabrales cheese.
Living in a town like this is a constant challenge “for the services you need and demand and for the sustainable management of your resources”, indicated the heir to the Crown, to whom the king, as happened on Friday night at the Campoamor Theater in Oviedo at the ceremony of the Princess of Asturias Awardshas given up the spotlight, being its first edition as an adult.
In a few brief words, the king explained that from now on it will be Mrs. Leonor who will highlight the best of the exemplary peoples and officially congratulate them. A role that he played for the first time this Saturday in Sotres, whose neighbors the monarch congratulated to also highlight your community spirit which, he assured, they have inherited and try to pass on to the following generations and to whom he has thanked them for their great reception.
In her speech, the princess recalled how, when the mining activity in this area ended – the mine from which lead and blende were extracted stopped operating in 1978 -, the town boosted the economy of the area with the development of natural tourism and hiking: “And you made that transition very well,” said the princess after the tour they took through the town.
A tour in which the royal family has listened to the elders: “The living memory of how a high mountain town that did not have electricity until 43 years ago is now a place that progresses with your effort“. And he also referred to the five children who live in Sotres, to whom he presented the award, and who he trusted will find reasons to continue in the town: “I hope that circumstances allow it if you decide so.” .
Princess Leonor has thanked the neighbors for making them feel “that in this beautiful corner of Asturias, life presents its best side”, when visiting a council in Cabrales to which she and her sister, she said, go for the second time and they are leaving again”dazzled and admired“by his example.
