Silken Coliseum Santander

Twas a rough old night as we free camped (including a wonderful fish barbecue) on Oyambre beach, and it soon became apparent that our surf boards were non too happy perched a-top the van roof; this to the extent that they attempted to become detached at around 5am ...

A very pretty (cobbled alleyways, olde worlde stylee, cows in a field with not only udders, but also tuneful bells which, when youºve got a dozen, made quite a din a la Mike Oldfield) little town, unlike the campsite which was essentially a sodden piece of grass, for which we were charged Euro 22, for the pleasure of a night's shut-eye.

Leaving San Sebastian behind we drove to Santander to spend the night. With nothing more then the car, no place to stay and no plan. As luck turns out we found a cheap Pension to stay at, and ate in their quaint little restaurant, treated to warm hospitality, good food, and free Grappa and Lemonchelo

... things were closed. I checked out some toy museum, and just wandered around. It's a nice little town, but a little quiet.

Over to Altamira, famous for its cave paintings, the oldest of which date back 25-35,000 years, according to recent estimates. Supposedly the cave is only a 2 km hike from Santillana del Mar, but it sure felt a heck of a lot longer than that! My clothes were soaked, between my sweat, the rain, and the humidity.

Santillana del Mar, Cantabria, Spain and Canary Islands pwong

I didn't bother setting my alarm today, but I was still up at 8! Why??? Why is it so difficult to sleep in??? No matter, off for a walk around this beautiful town. Surprisingly, there were a number of early risers already out on the beach - it's Spain, nobody is supposed to get up this early, only Canadian tourists who have trouble sleeping in!

I stayed close by in El Sardinero for breakfast, at the cafe adjoining Heladeria Italiana ...

... great place to stroll; the street running in the centre along the harbourfront is great - the one side directly on the water has vendor stalls and sculptures on display, and the other side is a main commercial street, with shops and outdoor cafes. In the middle are green spaces and a great place to walk, except that you can't continuously walk in this area - once you hit a traffic circle, you either have to cross over to the waterfront or ...

Not going to Germany like I have purchased tickets for. I would have had to leave at 12:30, and there is no way I could have put myself through that. Im whiped. Plus there is no place for me to stay, and the girls I would go with have differnt places to go and no plans of anything to do/see. Not to mention the 100 euro train ticket! No thank you! Chilling with my friends tomorrow. We will eat pizza and watch Ditry dancing. Relaxing is nice!

... Between all the spikes are the statues of Santander people. Women, men, children, all with sticks in their hands raised towards the other end of the monument. This centerpiece represents the battles they fought defending the rights the Spanish was taking away. The statues were very intense, as if the sculptor had lived through the event himself. Their faces were not solemn like our statue of liberty or serene like the Sphinx, but very emotional and full of pain and anger. Whew. Then ...

... and we decided to try and negotiate Santander together. She was going to be living in Santander for six months or so on some kind of exchange programme. After about an hour, during which the map and our accumulated guidebooks were rendered pretty much useless, we found a pension called 'Hostal Ipanema' on the third floor of an otherwise unoccupied building. It has big old rooms and lots of ...