Santillana cont

Ahhh the narrow streets...



Pretty houses with shops! There are tons of ceramic and leather artisans in the area. I bought a little ceramic hand painted bowl actually, really nice.

Santillana/Altamira

This is the Altamira musuem, home to the infamous prehistoric caves. Unfortunately the caves are not open to the public anymore because all of the exposure was making the cave paintings and such deteriorate very quickly so now they have a replica of it and a lot of the artifacts on display in special containers. It was really interesting to see musical instruments, tools, jewelry, etc that is truly thousands of years old. Jimmy Carter apparently visited the caves and left a message in the guestbook which I had to translate for Pedro, haha.


Here is the town of Santillana, which we have actually visited briefly before but most of the shops and things were closed since it was the off-season so we didn't spent much time there. It is a very cute little town, all with cobblestone streets though which made it a bit of a chore to walk around at times.


Isn't it pretty?


I love how the houses all have flowers and such.

Santander/Santillana continued

... we stopped off for some coffee at a little cafe in Santander to dry off a bit... Sorry I have to make your mouths water a little bit, they always have some ridiculous selection of pastries everywhere.


This is the Cathedral of Santander... 12th century!!!! Actually it was built on top of some ruins (some of which can be seen from the glass floor) which are even older.


Courtyard type thingy by the cathedral...



... again.. unfortunately I could not take pictures inside. However there was actually a wedding about to happen when we arrived so it was interesting to see all the dressed up people (and we even saw the bride coming out of her car, poor thing trying not to let her dress touch the soaked pavement!)

Trip to Santander and Santillana

Well first of all, I wanted to give you all an idea of what I've been waking up to every morning before I go to school... I must admit, although I am ready to come home, I will miss this:

... seriously, with home made jams and everything.


Unfortunately, it was raining in Santander, but it still looks very pretty.



A view of the Mar Cantabrica (or Bay of Biscay for us Americans..)


... thank goodness I have a waterproof raincoat now!!!