On Foot in Santander

Taking advantage of the cloudy but dry days with pleasant temperatures, we’ve done a few day-walks recently.  Stan planned a walk for us to the nearby town of Santa Cruz de Bezana.    On another day we used a bus to get to the Sardinero Beaches where we took a look at the Palacio de Pineos and Gran Casin del Sardinero.  I really would like to see this fabulous building but it does not open its doors until 8 pm each evening.  We are not good about getting out at night so it is likely I may never get to see inside.   Finally, we started our walk through the long Parque Atlantico de las Llamas.  We walked through it, end to end, and on back to our apartment in the Alisal neighborhood.  On yet another day we walked to the bull ring, Cuatro Caminos Bullring, or Coso de Cuatro Caminos hidden off the main streets yet in the heart of the city. Our plan that day included getting an up-close peek and learning about the curious slim lady in red standing on a pedestal with a spyglass near the train station.  Stan nicknamed her, Betty Boop.

Our walk to Santa Cruz de Bezana was most probably the most interesting.  What was to be an ambitious  5K, 1 hour and 30-minute one-way walk, turned out to be a 3-hour walk through a suburban, high-tech university campus, space-age industrial park, and then past grazing cows just feet away but kept from us by an electric fence.  We wound on and off tiny roads, uphill and down.  We found fig trees and looked for ripe ones.  We were able to reach a few but recent rains caused them to crack and made their taste quite watery.  Our route grew longer and longer.  We even picked up a portion of the Camino de Santiago as our route neared Bezana.  What on earth happened?  Finally, we became convinced something was truly wrong.  We re-navigated over and over again.  Finally, we just searched for “Santa Cruz,” not Santa Cruze de Benza as we had read.   It seems Benza refers to the district in which there is a small town called Santa Cruz and a tiny village also calledBenza.  With the clarified destination, the route was clear.  And there it was just 15 more minutes away.  In comparison to apartment living or mansion living in the city, Santa Cruz is a very modern, USA-looking suburban city.  It’s Spain’s version of suburbs for the upwardly mobile.  The day was growing late; we couldn’t do a lot of exploring.  We just bought a Snickers candy bar at a petrol station and talked with the attendant for a good while in weird Spanish and English.  His grandfather was from Jersey City.  He told us all the good places we must see during our stay in Cantabria  – most of which we have visited already. 

The correct walk home took us only another 45 minutes.  It was a 10-mile day.

The walk from El Sardinero Beach was long but very, very pretty.  It began in front of the Gran Casino and the beautiful private mansion Las Pinares which occupies a large, green city estate near the casino.  From there, the long green park extends from the Soccer Stadium near El Sardinero beaches to a point fairly close to our apartment.  Its strong points were the views of lovely apartments to the left and the right – the better ones seem to be on the left toward the Bay of Santander.  We imagined the wondrous views their occupants might have at sunrise and night.  Undoubtedly, the real treat of the park, however, was the lakes and winding waterways lying longwise inside the park.  Wooden walks took us over the water for a better look at the waterfowl and the grasses and mosses that thrived there. 

On the map, the distance from El Sandinaro to Alisal appears to be a long way but before we knew it, we were back in our neighborhood.  It was a 6-mile day.

Having seen most of Santander, we planned one more path to make sure we missed no Santander hidden secret.  Our hip joints were telling us, however, that we’d already called on them a little bit too much.  But we had not seen the bull ring.  We plotted a way to see it, and also to see the lady with the spyglass and the Rompa de Saltilos.  Our path took us in the direction we usually travel by bus to the city or El Sandinaro beaches but on a slightly different route.  We merely stumbled upon the remains of Riva Herrera Palace, part of which is the oldest medieval structure in Santander.  Once the medieval tower that still stands today was part of an iron works.  One of the wealthiest families in Santander bought the land in the mid-sixteenth century bought the tower, remodeled it, and added a palace, gardens, a chapel, a giant sundial, and parade grounds to reflect the family’s wealth and position.  Centuries later, in ruins the estate was restored by the government and declared a National Monument. in 1978 or so.  The Palace currently houses the headquarters for the Santander Creative Foundation.  Although this spot was not showcased in any information we’ve used to research the area, I’m really happy we got to see it and touch it.   Onward we reached the Cuatro Caminos Bullring.  No bullfight today.  The last bullfight of the year took place on September 23.  That’s ok with me.  I saw one bullfight a few years ago and that’s enough.

Stan felt he knew the way to his “Betty Boop” statue from this point.  I logged off Google Maps.  As we walked onward we found ourselves on a great downhill road lined with a high stone wall on one side and beautiful well-cared-for community gardens on the other.  I love vegetable gardens. Gardening is one of the things I miss most in our new life.  These gardens looked as if they were groomed by professionals. 

The road turned out to be the point I had hoped to walk, Calle Rampa de Soltilezo, one of the oldest remaining streets in the city.  Written in aluminum letters that appear to have been written on the stone wall in paint is an excerpt from El Paredon, taken from the novel by Spanish author, Jose Marie de Pereda – after whom many places in Santander are named.   At its bottom, guess what?  There was the lady with the spyglass.  Some things just work out!  The statue is called Hacia el Futuro, Toward the Future.  She was created by Baltazar Torres in iron and painted bronze, standing on a blue column, looking with a spyglass in the direction of the entrance to the Bay of Santander.  How appropriate!  This is one of our favorite sites.

Craving a bite, we returned to the restaurant where we met Marlena a few days ago.  We knew she served good food and could give us a un Spanish lesson to boot.  We saw her fluffy hair and smiling face immediately as she busily served her guests.  She remembered us and spoke to us in clear, deliberate Spanish, testing us.  We muddled through the menu and thought we did pretty well until she served sparkling vino tinto, called vino de verano. It sounded so pretty but tasted fizzy.   It is red rioja wine topped with soda.  She said that’s what we ordered.  Oops! It was another 7-mile day. 

Six or seven miles seem like such a long way.  I’d dread having to walk that far.  But when just walking, looking, learning, and laughing with a favorite someone for fun, the steps and minutes evaporate.