During the official days of the congress (22-27 august) the Organizing committee offers to all ECM31 participants the opportunity to visit Asturias with various cultural activities. They are focused on the main sights from the region.
Excursions will start at the entrance of the Palace of Exhibitions and Congresses (PEC), where a bus will drive us to the corresponding destination. Every activity is estimated for 50 participants maximum.
As general rule, a minimum of 15-20 people for excursion is required. If there are less than 15 participants, unfortunately the activity will have to be cancelled.
These social programme elements are not included in the registration fee and a pre-registration and separate payment of the excursion tickets is required. To register for any excursion, you should log in to your user area (https://ecm31.ecanews.org/en/user-area.php), click on Excursions and select the one you want. Tickets will be provided in the delegate packs for those participants who have enrolled for these tours in advance. If you wish to purchase an extra ticket during the conference, please contact the registration desk. Extra tickets will only be sold if free places are still available.
On Thursday morning a city tour through Oviedo is available. This excursion will be divided in 2 parts:
On Friday 24 we suggest to escape from the city to visit Luarca and Cudillero, 2 of the loveliest fishing villages from the west coast. We will visit Luarca and its lookout Hatalaya, where Blanca Chapel, Cementery and “Mesa de Mareantes” are worthy to see.We will have lunch at local restaurant. In the afternoon, a tour through Cudillero to finish with the day; famous village for its semicircular structure facing the sea.
Saturday 25, the dinosaur’s day! MUJA, under the shape of a large tridactyl footprint of a dinosaur, houses one of the most complete and didactic samples worldwide regarding these fascinating reptiles. With “time” as the connecting thread, the MUJA shows the development of life on Earth from its beginnings up until the arrival of mankind.
After visiting the museum, we will go out for a walk along La Griega beach. This beach is well-known for its dinosaur footprints. At the eastern end of this beach, there is a path of just over half a kilometre leading to some ichnites, the largest discovered to date in all the world.
Gijón, with 273.422 residents, is the biggest town in Asturias. Gijón is situated at the coast and has grown up considerably in the last years.
There we will visit the Laboral University-City of Culture, an incredible building, used in its origin as boarding school and today as faculty of the University of Oviedo, music and dramatic arts school, theatre, gallery… Some films were also filmed here, for example Brain Drain or Mortadelo and Filemon.
The botanical garden is next to the Laboral University. It is a relaxing experience that will enable you to see inspiring trees, bushes and hedgerows while breathing fresh air.It is unique in kind. It has managed to combine its Atlantic location with a global and international vision. The Botanic Gardens are organised in four major areas: The Cantabrian Environment, La Isla Garden, The Plant Factory and The Atlantic Circuit.
The Aquarium from Gijón is one of the biggest over the north coast. It has more than 60 fish tanks of fresh and salt water. They will let you know the flora and fauna from the different seas of the world. The aquarium has the “touch touch” area, where visitors can experience the sea life by touching small animals as starfishes, sea cucumbers and other small fishes.
