Santillana del Mar to Poncebos, Spain

Well after a very average sleep due to very loud neighbours and paper thin walls, we were awake early. We went for a walk around the old town which was very quaint but both DB and I preferred the natural old town of Isaba a bit more. Santillana del Mar was a bit more touristy.

Our next destination was to the Museum to see the replicas of cave art from Upper Palaeolithic age in Altamira. The cave of Altamira was discovered by Modesto Cubillas towards 1868 and was a huge tourist attraction for many years until they closed it to preserve it. Then they recreated it in the museum. It was really interesting but as you can imagine DB was a little miffed he couldn’t see the real thing. We saw a lot of archaeological displays and as always was very interesting. The museum is built right near the original cave.

We then headed towards the coast to see one of the beaches. It was a lovely drive through small towns and farmland. The beach was very pretty but there was an onshore wind so was a bit cool. After a picnic lunch at the lookout we then drove to our next destination, Poncebos, the start of the Garganta del Cares walk in the Picos de Europa National Park which we are doing tomorrow. Our last hoorah before the 1600km drive back to Amsterdam.

The approach to Poncebos was amazing, the mountains and countryside was beautiful, and we are really looking forward to our walk tomorrow. We had a look around and are ready to go in the morning.

Well we tried a traditional Asturian Bean Stew for entree tonight, even though neither of us are bean eaters, it was beans and we think a raw black sausage and some pork. Mmmmm, verdict, we don’t like beans.

Facts – The cave of Altamira has the privilege of being the first place in the world where the existence of rock art from the Upper Palaeolithic age was identified. Its uniqueness and quality, the stunning conservation, and the freshness of its pigments meant its acceptance would be delayed by a quarter of a century. At the time, it was a scientific anomaly, a discovery that constituted a giant leap and not an incremental step, and the phenomenon was difficult to understand for the society of the nineteenth century, gripped by extremely scientific and rigid propositions.

Bison, horses, deer, hands, and mysterious signs were painted or engraved over the 9,000 years during which the cave of Altamira was inhabited (22,00013,000 before the present). These representations extend for a length of more than 270 metres throughout the cave although the best known are the famous polychrome paintings. Conserving their excellent condition is a challenge for science and heritage management and is the priority and is the reason for the Museum of Altamira.