We arrived in Santander and my niece, Izzy picked us up from the airport. We drove to her house and settled in.

The next day another niece, Emmy and her daughter Loreto drove us to the beach at Somo. The day wasn’t warm enough to strip down, but we enjoyed walking along the beach with a few other beachgoers and surfers.

We saw an old capsized boat out in the surf and watched a few boats go by. On the other side of the bay sat Santander.

I was fascinated by the tractors driving on the beach using a rock picker to pick up trash.

After an hour or so on the beach, we loaded back up and drove to Santander.

We walked the promenade, saw an old church and abbey, then strolled around the town.

We had lunch at a restaurant inside an old marketplace. In the front of the restaurant, they had this case of tapas.

My niece ordered croquetas (a bechamel sauce with ham rolled in crumbs and fried) for us to try. They were delicious.

I thought I’d ordered a salad with tomatoes and ham. It turned out to be a plate full of sliced tomatoes with tuna and pickled onions. It was delicious but it was a while before I could eat another tomato!

After walking through two more plazas, we headed to the car and drove to a mall. It was Izzy’s birthday and we wanted to purchase a birthday gift for her.  She had mentioned she was down on wine glasses from people breaking them at barbeques and dinners, so we purchased some for her gift.

I noticed two National Police standing outside of a store in the mall. They were intimidating. Later when I told my niece and her husband, they said something must have been happening for there to have been to National Police in the mall. I’m glad we made our purchase and left!

We ended the day with a nice meal and visit with my niece and her family.

The next day Izzy and her husband took us to a couple of older villages around Santander. The first village had cobbled streets and small stores full of souvenirs.

We watched a bride arrive for a traditional wedding at the church. Bagpipes played as the bride and groom stood facing the church with their families and friends all around them. I was surprised to hear bagpipes but my niece’s husband told us that the northern part of Spain has a Celtic heritage from the people arriving from the Atlantic Ocean down from the United Kingdom. That was interesting to learn.

We walked the streets waiting for a magic show to start in the village square. My niece’s daughters were enthralled with the performance. While they watched the show, Angie, Rietta, and I walked through a free museum that had centuries-old tools, and photos from the time the first camera captured images to now.

From there we drove to another village with a traditional restaurant. We had fried calamari, croquetas, and blood sausage (it was made with rice, onions and spices and fried). Then we had bean soup. It’s a soup with white beans, kale, bacon chunks, and spices. It was very good!

After lunch, we went to Comillas. Here we did a tour of the Sobrellano Palace. It was built for the Marquise of Comillas, Antonio Lopez Lopez. From there we spotted a house designed for one of the Marquise’s friends by architect Antoni Gaudi who built the church we saw in Barcelona.

It was an explosion of sunflower tile; greens and yellows. The outside made me smile. The inside wasn’t as fantastic as the outside. It was inviting and a place I wouldn’t mind living. The rooms weren’t large but they all had great views and plenty of light. The conservatory wasn’t huge either. 

Eating in Spain took some getting used to. There is only a small breakfast of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate with toast, a sweet roll, or cookies. About the time we would normally eat lunch there is a snack of coffee, tea, or milk with a Spanish omelet or bread. Lunch is around 2 pm and around the time of our dinner time they have a light snack then eat dinner at 8pm. We had the hardest time with the 8 pm dinner. It wasn’t large but it was later than I eat. I have dinner at 6 and don’t eat anything else until morning.

On the last day in Santander, we drove to a high hill to take in the vistas around the area. The tree-covered hills (they call mountains) were a gorgeous green and even though it was a day with fog or mist, it was beautiful. From this vantage point we could see Santander and all the villages we’d walked through, even where my niece lived. It was chilly at the top and we had hot chocolate as we chatted.

We returned home and my niece sent us off with her husband while she prepared the Sunday meal we would share with her sister and her family. Oscar took us to a neighboring village that has a natural zoo, I guess you would call it. The animals are all in large fields with high fences to keep them in and people out. You can purchase a ticket to ride a tram over the fields and see the animals. But Oscar knew a road that took us up alongside the fence to see the elephants.  The elephant looked red because it had been dusting with the red soil in the area.

We visited with the elephant and took photos before we joined him at a small café for rabats- it’s a two in the afternoon snack of calamari and a drink.

We returned to the house to find Emmy and her family had arrived. We all sat down to a meal of roasted chicken and potatoes (white and sweet), a pasta salad, bread, and olives. The food was delicious. Dessert was zucchini bread and a traditional Spanish dessert her oldest daughter loves. I can’t remember the name of it and I forgot to write it down while on the trip.

Late in the evening, we went to Lierganes where we had churros and chocolate before walking around the town and listening to a live band.

The next day we boarded a plane early in the day headed for London, England. Where we would spend a night and take the train to Bath.