17 September 2022 – Cantabrian Adventures

Miles driven today = 64

Total Miles to date = 1,081

Well haven’t we been a proper pair of tourists today!  We were up and away in good time this morning and got straight back onto the A8 which took us inland and well south of Santander, through some lovely rolling countryside with the embankments covered in Pampas Grass.  Shortly after Torrelavega we hopped off the motorway and five minutes later we were parked up in our first of today’s destinations at Santillano del Mar.

Apparently Jean-Paul Satre described the village as being the most beautiful in the whole of Spain and tourists have been thronging here on the back of this reputation ever since.  It’s certainly very well preserved, although a lot of its buildings have now been converted into restaurants and tourist shops.

We parked up close to the Tourist Information Centre and got ourselves a map before making our way up the narrow streets to the plaza in front of the Church.

We had a good look round a gallery of work by the sculptor, Jesus Otero, who was born in the village. 

Across the road from the Church was the Palacio de Los Velarde.  I guess I just haven't seen enough Spanish villages yet to determine if Satres summary of the place is correct but it seemed pretty top notch to me.

There was a fellow taking tourist’s photos with an ancient camera and another recording the scene in watercolours.  There were also quite a few gentlemen wandering around suited and booted and ladies in their finest hats, so we assumed a wedding was due to take place.

These cheesecakes are a local delicacy.  We bought one to share.  It’s basically a slightly lemon flavoured custard tart to my heathen palette.

We were also tempted into buying some chorizo made from wild boar & venison.  Some of the former went in our tea this evening together with prawns, green beans, baby potatoes, flaked almonds and anchovies, with a lime and pesto yoghurt dressing.  I didn’t get around to taking any photos I’m afraid but when it comes to camp cooking Lisa is the best!

This building was open to the public and had a number of exhibitions of local traditions and festivities as well art and crafts.  No photos were allowed but it gave us the opportunity to look around the interior of one of these buildings.  It was huge!

We were glad of our early start as the tour buses were starting to arrive as we made our way back to the van.  So we moved on just a couple of kilometres up the hill to the Caves of Altamira.

The Caves were discovered in the 19^th Century but prior to that it is thought that nobody had entered them since 12,000 BC.  The cave art found on the walls and ceiling was therefore some of the best preserved anywhere in Europe.  Unfortunately years of having people traipsing through the caves has caused the paintings to deteriorate and they are no longer open to the public.  But there is an interesting museum of prehistoric man and a remarkable full scale reconstruction of the most heavily decorated section of the caves.

We moved on again through Cobreces, with its fairy tale castle Cistercian monastery, to Comillas.  Our main destination here was El Capricho, the first house to have been designed by Gaudi before he moved on to greater things in Barcelona and elsewhere.

The whole place is plastered in sunflower tiles and has a Rapunzel style tower.

This is the master bedroom.

Upstairs, via some very narrow spiral stairs, this room contained some of the furniture designed by Gaudi in his inimitable style.

Outside in the garden we found this great little grotto.

We had a quick wander around the historic town centre of Comillas.  Being a Saturday there were plenty of people frequenting the numerous bistros.

We then moved on to our stopover point for this evening.  We are in the motorhome aire attached to Camping El Rosal, which is just across the Rio Escudo from San Vicente de la Barquera.  It’s pretty basic but it’s only €10 a night and it’s right next to the beach.  And what a beach it is!

Tomorrow’s decision.  Do we stay on the coast for one more night or do we dive inland to the Picos de Europa?  Beach or Mountains?  What a quandry!

18 September 2022 - Heading for the hills