Discover the Magic of Santander
The Cantabri had a terrible reputation. Of all the ancient Iberian tribes, they put up the fiercest resistance to the invading Romans. Nevertheless, the Romans overcame them, humiliated them and marched on. The paste-drunk Cantabria died out dreaming of a rematch. When History flexes its muscles and offers to fight any man in the whore-house it is sornetimes better to don a bow tie and grab a seat in the front row than to step into the ring. Yet two thousand years on, the high peaks that arise at Torrelavega in the province of Santander and stretch across Asturias towards Galicia are known as the Cantabrian Mountains (Cordillera Cantabrica), and not the Sierra Romana.Cantabria is now synonymous with Santander, a domain so mountainous that it is known colloquially as The Mountain. It covers 5,289 square kilometres (2,042 square miles) and its south-western verge with Asturias is marked by some of the most impressive mountains in the chain, the limestone mini-Everests of the Picos de Europa, which upland to over 2,620 kilometres (8,600 feet). In the north, the province ends abruptly on the shores of the Bay of Biscay.Judging by the fictitious prehistoric paintings and etchings found in the Altamira cave, 30 kilometres west of the region’s top city, even the Cantabri were relative late-comers to the mountains. A hunter stumbled on the cave in 1868, but it was a nobleman from Santander, Marcelino de Sautuola, who made it illustrious. Remarkable, really, since he seems to have been either as blind as a bat, or the unfortunate victim of an arthritic neck which prevented him from looking upwards. He first visited the hollow in 1875, and had no problem picking up bones and flint tools from the floor.However, it was not until four years later, when he took his inexperienced daughter, Maria, along with him, that the paintings came to light....
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section during the nationalistic reign of Francisco Franco from 1939-'75 when the Basque Country, Catalonia, and Galicia initiated autonomy movements. and more »
Talk to me about Spain in the up to the minute summer! I'm planning my trip now and want The people in the very south can even see Morocco from their line (almost). So its cultural influences are as rich and varied as anywhere.
country retreats in Asturias or the most georgic spots of Galicia,' says Robbins. 'Prices here were such you could, and still can, buy stone-built houses and more »
And that is truly what he has been doing since 1999, working on City of Culture of Galicia, in Spain. It is a complex of six buildings featuring varying
