Cantabria was the first stage of our trip, where we spent two days. The second one was the Basque Country, where we visited Bilbo (Bilbao) and Donostia (San Sebastián). In Cantabria we visited Santander and the lovely villages of Comillas and Santillana del Mar.
Saturday, 25th july 2009
Santander
This picture of fishing boats in the Puerto Chico reminds us that, originally, Santander was mainly a fishing town
Walking along the seafront under a lovely day we reached the Magdalena beach. Santander is completelly opened to the sea, with impeccable gardens and seafronts, a perfect places to walk
From Magdalena peninsula the view of Sardinero beach and the Santander coast is really beautiful. This peninsula is one of the more charming places of Santander and, of coure, one of the places I liked the most
Now two seals also, but with the Magdalena peninsula in the background. We spent a really good time walking around in this place
The Magdalena Palace is a really beautiful building and, thanks to its privileged location, the views of Cantabric sea are magnificent. Nowadays this building is Menéndez Pelayo University headquarters and it has been a summer residence of the spanish monarchy
A great view of Santander, taken from Piquio gardens, of Sardinero beach with the Magdalena peninsula in the background
Piquio gardens, located between the two Sardinero beach, were an ideal place to eat a wonderful Regma ice-cream before coming back
Here we have already came back to Pereda gardens, where there were some funny sculptures
The Santander Cathedral at night. Before we had visited the cloister, which is opened to visitors
Sunday, 26th july 2009
Comillas and Santillana del Mar
We went from Santander to Comillas by coach. The Santander bus station is big and pretty functional because most of trips in Cantabria are by coach. Sceneries like this one are very usual in Cantabria
Comillas is 40km away from Santander. For almost one hour we were sitting enjoying landscapes like this one
Comillas
Here, in front of this modernist white fountain built by Lluis Doménech i Muntaner, we started our flying visit in Comillas. Unfortunately we only could spend less than three hours in this lovely small town full of modernist monuments because of coach timetables. So we had to hurry up :)
The combination of spanish and arabic elements decorate the whole ensemble. All these colorful elements give a cheerful look to this building
Sunflowers decorate the exterior façade, the tower and the porch of El Capricho. Natural decorative motifs appear always in Modernist architechture
The Sobrellano Palace has a look a bit gloomy
View point from which we enjoyed a beautiful view of Comillas beach
This is the view I spoke of in the previous picture. As the day was so lovely, there was a lot of people getting a tan
Santillana del Mar
Santillana del Mar is a small village of Cantabria which has conserved its medieval look. I found this village really lovely
The main street of Santillana del Mar leads to the Collegiate church
The Collegiate church of Santa Juliana in Santillana del Mar
Already inside our coach on the way to Bilbao we enjoyed this beautiful landscape of Cantabria
Apart from Santander, Comillas and Santillana del Mar other beautiful villages and places you can visit in Cantabria are:
- Laredo
- San Vicente de la Barquera
- Castro Urdiales
- Cuevas de Altamira (Altamira Caves)
- Reinosa
- Picos de Europa National Park
Finally, other beautiful places you can visit in Spain are:
- Catalonia
- Basque Country
- Granada
- La Alhambra, Albaicín and Sacromonte in Granada
- Sevilla, Córdoba, Cádiz and Costa de la Luz
- Toledo, Madrid, El Escorial and Segovia
- Mallorca, Ibiza and Formentera
- Galicia
- Zaragoza, La Rioja and Navarra
- Alicante
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