Hey, y’all!
It’s been a while.
I’m recently back in Barcelona, after a week or so in Santander, and I’ve got a new video to share.
Santander – and the Cantabria region – are some of my favorite places in Spain. Check out the landscapes in the video to see why.
I also teach some Spanish geography vocab in there. You know, acantilados and all that. If you want more, check out my Learn Spanish with Daniel channel over on YouTube.
(Some people have mentioned that there’s way too much of my face in this video, and I agree. Oh well. I was just learning how to edit video when I made it, and it’s got lots of things that could improve.)
More about Santander, Cantabria
Santander is a port city in the Cantabria region, in the north of Spain. Many people only know it as the name of the bank which was founded there.
A lot of Spanish coastal cities have beaches nearby, but not all have the beach an easy walk from the center.
Santander, though, has several beautiful beaches just a few minutes from downtown. Playa del Sardinero, Playa del Camello and Playa de la Magdalena are all worth a visit.
If you want, you can also cross the bay to Playa del Puntal (there’s a boat that goes to Somo, a little town on the other side) which is enormous and much less busy.
Some typical foods from the area are rabas (fried pieces of squid), chipirones (small squid, usually grilled with onions and peppers), and – interestingly – Spanish omelette stuffed with ham and cheese, shrimp, baby eels or other delicious things.
It’s also a good place to have pinchos.
They’re not quite as elaborate as Basque Country pintxos, but they’re abundant and a bit cheaper.
You can also try cocido montañés, which is similar to fabada – a white bean stew with sausage, bacon and black pudding. And by all means, visit the fish market in Santander on weekday mornings. It’s quite chaotic, but for me it’s a unique and unforgettable cultural experience.
The northern region of Cantabria, Spain
The region of Cantabria is small, and known for its rolling green hills and beautiful beaches.
There are several other places worth visiting around Santander: Sanitllana del Mar and Laredo spring to mind. Or you can go a little further and check out Bilbao in the Basque country – it’s about an hour and a half by bus. In the other direction, you’ve got Oviedo, Asturias, which is quite nice as well.
Also nearby is the Cave of Altamira, site of some ancient cave paintings.
The center of Santander is busy and full of shops, and there are plenty of nightlife options if you’re into that sort of thing.
The only real negative: the weather’s not incredible. It frequently rains and is often cloudy, but doesn’t get particularly hot in summer or cold in winter.
Anyway, if you have a chance to go, you definitely should.
Have fun,
Daniel AKA Mr Chorizo.
P.S. First time here? I’ve got more articles about Spain that you can check out. And they’re not all as boring as this one! (This is just an update of a VERY old article that kinda sucked. I just wanted an excuse to embed the video somewhere.)
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