What to see in Cantabria

Image | Pixabay

Cantabria is one of the most special destinations in Spain because it combines mountains, sea, gastronomy and culture. It is a place that has it all and highly recommended if in summer you are looking for a place to go on vacation and not get hot.

In this land of northern Spain there is so much to see and do that probably someone who has never been to Cantabria before may not know where to start. If this is your case, keep reading! because in the next post we are going to reveal the best corners of Cantabria that you cannot miss.

Santander

The capital of Cantabria in the past was one of the favorite resorts of the noble classes and royalty. Today it is a city with a very pleasant halo that combines gastronomy, culture and beautiful landscapes.

A sunny day is perfect to approach the Magdalena peninsula and marvel at the beautiful Magdalena Palace, a gift from the city to King Alfonso XIII for promoting luxury tourism to the city at the beginning of the 1912th century. It became his summer residence between 1929 and XNUMX.

The entrance to the Magdalena peninsula is free and in it you can see the Magdalena beach, the palace, the monument to Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, a small zoo, a pine forest planted at the wish of Alfonso XIII and the three caravels that the Cantabrian navigator Vital Alsar used to commemorate Francisco de Orellana's trip to America.

Image | Pixabay

We continue the route through Santander and we arrive at its eminently Gothic cathedral. It was built on the ruins of an old monastery between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries.

Another very old construction is the Cabo Mayor lighthouse, which dates back to 1839. It is one of the best places to visit in Santander, both for its fabulous views over the bay and for the exhibits on lighthouses that can be seen in the rooms. existing between the base of the lighthouse tower and its annex buildings.

Speaking of lighthouses and the sea, taking into account that the port of Santander was very important in maritime trade with America in the XNUMXth century, it is not surprising that the Cantabrian Maritime Museum is one of the most recommended places to see as a family. Ships, archeology, navigational instruments, cartography, maritime documentation and much more are displayed here.

Another of the most interesting museums in Santander is the Botín Center, inaugurated in 2017 to be a center dedicated to research, training and dissemination. It also hosts art exhibitions and music concerts.

Quotation marks

Image | Wikipedia

This beautiful town is one of the most visited Cantabrian corners because its monumental complex is framed by a spectacular natural and scenic environment. A claim for anyone who sets foot in Cantabria.

The old square, the parish church and some houses in the center of the town are an excellent example of popular architecture from the XNUMXth century. The rest of the notorious buildings correspond to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a time when Comillas enjoyed its maximum economic and social splendor.

Furthermore, Comillas is the most modernist city outside of Catalonia. Artists such as Gaudí, Martorell or Llimona left their mark on it with works such as El Capricho, the Pontifical University or the palace of Sobrellano.

Santillana del Mar

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Santillana del Mar is undoubtedly one of the towns with the greatest historical-artistic value in Spain, to the point that everything in it is a monument.

Practically the entire municipality is the historic center. This is organized around the streets of Juan Infante and Santo Domingo and each one of them ends in a square. The streets are cobbled and the stone buildings are dated between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries.

A walk through the town reveals the magnificent houses of the nobility that were built here, such as the house of the Quevedo, the Eagle and the Parra and the one of Leonor de la Vega, among others. Another prominent residence of the nobility is the Palacio de las Arenas, located in the square of the same name, which was built during the XNUMXth century in a Renaissance style.

caves of Altamira

A few kilometers from Santillana are the Altamira caves. These have the recognition of being the first place in the world where cave art from the Upper Paleolithic was identified.

Its discovery meant a turnaround for the knowledge that was had to date of prehistoric man: from being considered a wild being, he became seen as a being with sensitivity capable of shaping his universe with a surprising technique. It is one of the greatest and earliest exponents of human creativity.


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