Blogs from Cantabria, Spain, Europe
January 30th 2012
Hey there. Well it´s about time I started writing a blog of my many adventures that started when I was seventeen. I´ve pretty much just been too lazy to write anything online but yeah, so here it goes... Well I got a scholarship through Banco Santander to study here in Spain for the year, for free (yes! for free!) which is kind of amazing since we´re in a recession in the U.S. I live in Santander, Spain, in the Cantabrian region of northern Spain. I´ve been here for almost six months. In these six months, I have managed to improve my spanish skills, learned to drink cheap red wine with coca-cola (a.k.a-- Kalimoxto), travel to 7 countries, and make a bunch of international friends (mostly from Mexico and Spain). Spanish skills- well, I´ve studied spanish for ... read more
January 8th 2012
Santander Finally! The last leg of our trip! Our early December trip... We had a blast and in this last beach town we only had one night left to spend. After visiting the town we now know that we could have spent more time there, but it was time to go back to work. Maybe we will visit again in the summer! It was beautiful! When we arrived to Santander it was siesta. Of course! Actually we arrived in the nick of time to grab a map from the tourist office. We also had to look up what hostel we reserved with so we found a bar with WIFI to find out where we needed to go. We are organized. Not too much later, we were able to set our heavy luggage down at our hostel ... read more
Eksplorative studier i Spanien og Portugal - 2011; Kapitel 1
Published: August 15th 2011Europe » Spain » Cantabria » Suances
August 14th 2011
2 år senere...tilbage i Spanien Jeg har det virkelig godt! Og dem som kender mig ved, at jeg kun ville skrive det, hvis det passede. Jeg sidder og skriver fra en meget lille landsby som hedder Aulesti. Her bor jeg, hos en mand midt i fyrerne, som hedder Humberto. Jeg ankom i fredags, og i dag er det tirsdag, tror jeg nok. Det er en landsby i Baskerland, og det er efterhånden gået op for mig, at det ikke er noget man spøger med. I fredags, da jeg ankom, mødte jeg Humberto foran kirken, hvor de lokale var ved at tilberede en gris. Der skulle være fest, og pengene skulle gå til fængslede ETA-medlemmer. Så var det ligesom på plads...Siden har jeg et par gange kommet til at sige, at jeg virkelig godt kan lide Spanien....?!Det ... read more
June 28th 2011
We left Grenoble not really knowing where we would finish up and that makes all the more interesting. We were the only ones in the dining room. Food was plentiful and we made sure we had a good breakfast. The Tom Tom was set up for Spain and at about 9.30 a.m. we left Grenoble. We were soon on the, minor road to Perpignon. One of the bigger places we would go through on the way to the Spanish border. We don't think we ever went through more round about as this day. France really likes those. At some places they were there every two kilometres. We were lucky for it was Sunday and again no or hardly any truck traffic. But you do have the farmers that move their heavy equipment around on these small ... read more
June 20th 2011
Well, after travelling from Portugal to Spain through 2 buses, we arrived to Vallolidid and figured out that it was cheaper and faster to take the train back to Santander, whoo hoo. We avoided another 2 bus rides and ended up getting a wonderful deal on our return journey at only E9. Our journey previously cost E30 and Begona had told me to expect E20 for the way home...so although our train journey was a little longer than the previous one, it was a good end of the trip. Almost – we caught another train that brought us from the city of Santander to the area where B lives, we walked for a while from there. It was funny for me because B was the one complaining about walking this time. She was always pushing me ... read more
June 10th 2011
Hey everyone! Well, my time in Spain has been very rainy. It has been quite cold and not suiting my taste for weather whatsoever! Besides that, things seem to be going well - visited a market, a bunch of shops, loads of beaches and two other towns in the province of Cantabria, Santillana del Mar and Comillas. I apologize, despite trying to get pictures uploaded to my blog, there was no success so I will post pictures at a later date... It is now Friday, it rained a lot this morning and I slept rather late but managed to see the bread man do the delivery. There is a guy that delivers fresh bread to the houses where Begona's parents live every day - pretty cool I think. We are in town for the day so ... read more
May 8th 2011
Today we woke with the sun coming up over the Bay of Biscay. Doesn’t that sound romantic? It is until you head outside and find it is not as warm as you would like it to be. Before heading out for the day we enjoyed a very nice breakfast as part of the included price. The large cup of coffee was one of the nicest we have had in Spain so far. During breakfast we had a great chat with a German couple from Frankfurt who have been coming to this hotel every year for the past five years. A short drive away is the historic village of Comillas. The beach looks fabulous and we can but wonder how crowded it must get in the summer. Not sure about the water temperature though. The Atlantic is ... read more
May 7th 2011
The thunderstorms last night were not an issue when trying to get to sleep but with one long shared pillow some diplomacy was called for. Fortunately a cheap pillow had been purchased in Clermont-Ferrand to cater for difficult situations. One positive to come out of the thunderstorm was a reasonably clean car in the morning. Light rain was falling and it was probably our coolest day on this part of our travels so warmer clothes were needed. After a bedroom breakfast (we say these things in hushed tones) we said farewell to the owner, who only spoke Spanish and perhaps some French, and left for some sightseeing in the old part of town. Having taken the scenic route last night we knew exactly where to go and how to exit the city. The underground car park ... read more
April 5th 2011
Crisis in Spain We have now arrived home a week early. Having left our cosy wifi enabled campsite in the Alentejo we took one week to get to Bilbao rather than the two planned to allow us to get to a funeral of our brother in law in Devon on Friday 8 April. But then, as we were travelling down a hill on a motorway in Spain outside Villaviciosa, our rear off tyre decided to shed its tread. This has never happened to us before and it makes a hell of a noise. It wrecked the wheel arch, the underside of the cooker, all the cooking equipment which was dispensed down the motorway, and the back of the fridge. It also trashed the sink drain, the grey water waste pipe and broke the water supply to ... read more
The town of three lies...
Published: December 2nd 2010Europe » Spain » Cantabria » Santillana del Mar
November 28th 2010
In the Western part of Cantabria is the small medieval city of Santillana del Mar. They say the city is of three lies, since it is not holy (santi), flat (llana) or on the sea! (del mar). Some good-looking liar! The city is quite a beautiful little jewel, perfectly preserved with its bright cobbled streets and tan stone and brick buildings surrounding centuries of history that lies within this city. Cut off my automotive traffic, the city can only be explored by foot. So thats what we did. On a grey-skyed saturday three girls of all different nationalities piled into a very small car by any North American's standard and set off from Santander in Northern Cantabria Spain and drove through the Cantabrian countryside. Eventually finding there final destination of Santillana del Mar. This medieval jewel ... read more
