Day 18 - Enjoying Santillana del Mar

Date: Tuesday July 2

Start: Santillana del Mar, Cantabria

End: Santillana del Mar, Cantabria

Daily Mileage: NA

Total Mileage: ~201mi (~323.5km)

That’s right, another zero. We are so lazy. 

Just kidding. We are not that lazy. We are walking across Spain. 

Today was a planned zero so we could explore the gorgeous historic town of Santillana del Mar and visit the nearby UNESCO-Heritage-listed Cave of Altamira. After another unfavorable forecast, we were happy to wake to blue skies. (On a related note, we have tried a few different weather apps here and all of them seem to pretty much be garbage – which of course we are quite happy about when it works out in our favor).

Shawn, after booking our hotel. “I think it’s historic, or something.” Inside the Hotel Altamira, located in a 16th-century Cantabrian mansion. Very old also means very creaky.

Santillana del Mar is often (maybe too often) referred to as “the town of three lies” since it is neither a saint/holy (santo), nor a flat plain (llana), nor by the sea (mar). But none of these are particularly untrue really... The town is set among rolling hillsides, but fairly flat compared to say, the terrain we hiked through in Basque Country. Its location is not directly on the sea, but also not so far away, less than an hour’s walk. And, the first word of the town’s name is really derived from Santa Juliana of Nicomedia (her name evolved to Santa Illana over the centuries), whose remains are claimed to lie in the town’s Colegiata de Santa Juliana (Collegiate Church of Santillana), built in her honor. So there is, indeed, una santa at play here. Anyway, I give the name a pass. I think people are just really tied to this “three lies” line at this point.

After breakfasting we set out to explore the three truths. And some other stuff.

Rolling plains of Santillana del Mar.

First up, we walked through the gently rolling plains to the UNESCO World Heritage listed site of the Cave of Altamira. Northern Spain, and particularly the narrow strip of land that stretches across the Cantabrian coast, contains the highest density of Paleolithic art in Europe. The cave art at Altamira is only 1 of 18 sites of cave art across northern Spain included in the UNESCO listing, and all told there are over 200 sites with rock art along the Cantabrian coast. Due to the deep underground location of the UNESCO-listed caves, the Paleolithic art has been particularly well preserved.

Location of the UNESCO World Heritage cave art sites across Northern Spain.

From the UNESCO website, regarding the Altamira site: “The property represents the apogee of Paleolithic cave art that developed across Europe, from the Urals to the Iberian Peninsula, from 35,000 to 11,000 BC.”

So, pretty great stuff.

So great in fact, that in order to protect the caves, they are no longer open to the public. Womp, womp. BUT... they have created a full size replica/recreation of the cave and its paintings, which was still quite nice to see. The majority of the painting includes animals: bison, deer, boars, horses. There is also the occasional creepy handprint. 

There was quite a bit of information in the museum about the technique for doing the ‘negative handprints’ (where the coloring is around the handprint, while the handprint itself is uncolored). Sometimes I think some of the art is overanalyzed. When it comes to some of the handprints, I’m sure it was just like today. One of the kids came along and stuck his hand in the paint and now junior’s prints are next to the nice bison dad was painting.

Look Mom, it’s my hand!

The museum on site walked through the history of both early humans and cave art in general and contained some pretty fascinating artifacts – engraved objects for decoration/adornment, small tools, and other everyday implements – dating up to 36,000 years old. When you think about life on that kind of timescale it really makes you feel quite insignificant in the grand scheme of it all.

Having walked three miles roundtrip to reach the cave/museum – on our day off, nonetheless! – we’d worked up an appetite. Back in town, we were lucky enough to snag the last table for the lunch seating at Restaurante El Bisonte Rojo, a well-rated restaurant outside of the town center/touristy area. We know this because as soon as we were added to the reservation book, the COMPLETO sign went up outside, which meant there were no tables remaining for the lunch seating. The restaurant was highly regarded for its excellent menu del dia, cocido montañés (mountain stew), and their cheesecake – among other excellent dishes.

We can’t resist a good menu del dia, always such a great deal. And this one was no exception – less than €20/pp for a first course (primero), main course (segundo), dessert, bread, and either a glass of wine or beer. We have taken to calling it ‘meal del dia’, because it covers our requirements for both lunch and dinner. Since it takes a bit longer to go through several courses, it’s nice to have on a day off, though we have had a few on days when we’re hiking (just yesterday we had a far more basic menu del dia on our way in from Santander).

Today, we each started with the cocido montañés, which was a rich stew of white beans and various stew beef and sausages. Shawn had steak and fries for his main course, me - the hake with pepper sauce. And we both finished up with the highly recommended cheesecake, which did not disappoint. 

After lunch, we strolled through a bit more of the town, walking through the main plaza, which housed several medieval towers and the town hall. We meandered our way through small laneways and really every which way through the town. Once Shawn had enough exploring, he head back to the hotel to watch the Tour de France stage for the day, while I continued poking my way about town. 

Plaza Mayor with medieval towers.

Town Hall

Later in the afternoon, with Shawn occupied watching le Tour, I went to visit the Colegiata de Santa Juliana (Collegiate Church of Santillana), the most spectacular of the historic architecture in town. The church was the first major building upon our walk into town along the Camino, helping to provide a bit of ‘wow’ factor on arrival. It’s that yellowed-stone in the sunlight that really gets you.

As mentioned earlier, it is claimed that the remains of Juliana of Nicomedia, martyred in Asia Minor in the fourth century, are buried in the church. Though it is more likely that she was buried somewhere outside of Naples, Spanish legend states that the body was moved here, then the Kingdom of Asturias, in the 800s. 

Regardless of whether the saint’s remains are buried here, the Romanesque style church that honors her name is quite gorgeous, both inside and out. The current structure dates to the 1100s. I find the exterior to be the most striking architecturally, especially the main entrance archway and the adjacent carving; however the interior was no slouch. 

The colonnades along the cloisters bordering the central quadrangle included intricate carvings with biblical scenes of the life of Christ, mythical creatures, ornate foliage, and geometric patterns. The nave also included a number of carvings along pillars, though it was not a well lit space, making it feel a bit dungeony – which is basically what I associate medieval times with anyway. (Probably why the third most popular site in the town, after the church and the caves, is the Museum of Torture).

Though it was a nice to check out, the exterior is the most beautiful part, in my book.

A few other random happenings of the day...

When I walked out of the hotel to head to the church, the group of four women in the dark red skirts that we had seen hiking along the Camino yesterday, was busking outside. They all sang while one played the guitar. Now I am pretty sure they are German. I threw some Euro in their bowl. I still hope we run into them when they aren’t singing so we can get a bit more backstory here. I doubt they are making enough from busking for more than some churros con chocolate.

I made a quick stop through a small museum dedicated to the artist Jesús Otero, a famous sculptor from Santillana del Mar. The property included a number of his sculptures, both indoors and outside. Most of the sculptures outdoors represented iconic figures from Altamira, including the bison and the horse. The museum was small and open to the public to just wander in. No tickets. No payment. No discernible caretaker, even. 

We ran into our friend from Australia who we met along the trail yesterday. At the risk that I made him sound like a complete wackadoodle, I do want to say that he is a super nice guy. Unless he already left again today, I’m sure we’ll run into him again along the route.

Dinner was gelato. 

And, we finally got more toothpaste. I know you were concerned. Especially when you learned we are eating gelato for dinner.

Overall, we really liked Santillana del Mar. True, I’m sure it doesn’t have the charm of the old days, now that the livestock quarters on the first level of the homes and buildings have been replaced with tourist souvenir shops and restaurants. And there can be quite a few tourists during the day. But in the small laneways away from the principal streets and plazas, and in the late evening, after most of the tour groups have left for the day, the town still oozes charm. It’s hard not to swoon a little with all the grasses and mosses growing out of the faded stone bricks and cobbles, climbing ivy, and flowers cascading down crumbling walls and along balconies.

It’s certainly been one of the most beautiful towns along the Camino thus far, though all of the cities and towns we’ve passed through have been unique and interesting in their own way. Tomorrow, we shall see what wonders await in the town of Comillas.