Two days, two towns and one bed.

I arrived in Santillana del Mar on Sunday.  I usually like the challenge of figuring out the how and when of getting somewhere, but this had proved itself a bit more stressful. One bus company, ALSA, could sell me a ticket to Torrelavega, about 12 km away, but just shrugged their shoulders about the last leg.  Of well, I figured I could get more information when I got closer.

Of course Torrelavega bus station was deserted on Sunday, but fortunately there was a taxi that  only charged me €16.  I had read a thread on TripAdvisor that it may be 25€. More than a €2 bus, but I was happy to get here. So I had all afternoon to explore Santillana del Mar – all three streets!

It is a tiny medieval village of cobblestone streets and stone buildings, frozen in time from 1400-1500 AD. Well, except for every building converted to hotel, restaurant or gift shop.

And it only seems appropriate to stay in a Parador, which are historical buildings owned by the Spanish government and run as hotels. Some are spectacular former palaces and castles, but this was a more modest barons residence. Still very atmospheric!

PMonday morning I was off to the tourist information office to check on bus schedules to leave Tuesday. It never ends! I found a bus to San Vicente, but then I have to switch to ALSA again. But the nice woman checked, and I only have 90 minutes wait. Perfect for lunch.

When I was planning my route along this north coast, Comillas was on my wish  list.  It’s only 19 km away, and the sun was trying to shine, so I decided to hop on the bus.  Funny enough, it is the same bus I’ll take today. If there was some place to store my luggage there, I could have gone today and continued on a later bus.

Comillas has many interesting places to see, but the first on my list was ‘El Capriche’, designed by the architect Gaudì (see the Barcelona post for more of his work).

I’ve seen countless churches, but not many cemeteries. And this one was spectacular.
I also had to check out the beach, of course, because there were waves!

Nice little squares and buildings

Pronouncation lesson 5- ‘ll’ in Spanish is pronounced as ‘y’. So Santillana is ‘San-tee-yana’, Comillas is ‘ko-me-yaw’, and Llanes is ‘yan-eyes’

So I am going to send off this post, ready or not, as I’ve already done it twice – was the victim of medieval internet this morning and it keeps freezing….