Santander

Hola de Santander, capital city of Cantabria in northern Spain, just along the coast from San Sebastian and our first stop in Spain (as opposed to the Basque Country).

The first thing that strikes you is the impressive mountain range - el Cordillera Cantabrica (Cantabrian Spine) that surrounds the Cantabrian Bay (part of the Bay of Biscay).  It really is quite a magnificent setting: blue sky, blue sea, fabulous mountains and a stylish promenade.

Cantabrian Bay surrounded by the Cordillera Cantabrica

Naturally, there's a marina to which we gravitated straightaway - more for local fishermen than yachtsmen but lovely to see nonetheless. The Santander folk are very proud of their maritime and seafaring history which has helped this region become renowned for excellent seafood. 

Santander Marina with the mountains in background

We couldn't miss the Maritime Museum as Santander has such a long history of boat building, fishing, expeditions, yacht racing, etc.  You can imagine that Mick was in his element.  It was pretty impressive actually, giving a local and general maritime history.  It was amazing to see some of the traditional navigational aids on show as Mick's Dad had a small collection.   Here, too, was a aquarium and we watched a diver feed the fish - something we'd not seen at an aquarium before.

Lunch with the sharks!

We spent the rest of our stay here exploring the City and its main attractions: plazas, park, beaches and Cathedral, consisting of two Gothic churches - 13thC & 14thC. Sadly, a boat trip out to sea, psst more beaches was cancelled as we're out of season and the winds can be a bit unpredictable here.

Santander is known for its seafood so we couldn't miss the tapas scene and gravitated to the excellent Meson Rampalay and enjoyed fab wines, boquerones (anchovies in oil & vinegar - our fave!), tartaleta de gambas (prawn tartlet), curried chicken and pulpo a gallego (octopus Galician style).  What a way to dine, eh?

We also tracked down a really nice restaurant for our menus del dia offering more really good seafood dishes and that infamous of Spanish desserts, flan (creme caramel).   

We also loosely planned to visit a cave to see some of Spain's finest cave art but, being out of season, the tours had finished the day we arrived. 

So, that's an outline of our time in Santander.  We're off to Oviedo tomorrow for a few days so catch up with us soon!