Last lap to Santander

From Altamira we headed to Santillana del Mar. billed as one of Cantabria's "must sees", which in its traditional nature, lack of cars and preponderance of souvenir shops reminded me of a family visit to Gruyeres earlier in the summer.

A highlight for me was seeing irridescent clouds for the first time! High altitude clouds of ice crystals.

The main sight is the Romanesque Collegiate Church

Where we spotted collegiate graffiti

And a beautiful cattle grid to keep beasts out of the churchyard!

Onto Virgen del Mar campsite which is getting pricey these days, but a lovely coastal setting, albeit by the cemetery. I got my fix of a paddle which I have to have when I'm at the seaside!

Limestone cliffs

The bridge over to the island

Next morning, with time to kill before the ferry left at lunch time, we went exploring along the north coast and found the little holiday/ex fishing village of S Pedro del Mar (everything is "on sea" here!)

As well as an interpretation centre in an old battery dating from the Napoleonic Wars, this has plenty of limestone!

The battery on a low cliff that gives a good view of the limestone bedding plane

Displays inside the Interpretation Centre. Not much geology but we were told
there is an information board further along the coast. Still worth looking at
though if you have an hour or two to kill in Santander

Intrigued by this exposure where there seems to be a shallow channel eroded
into the beds in the lower part of the cliff. Beds wedging out to the left.

Checked for fossils - found this bivalve fragment in the Interpretation centre wall

We queued up for ages on the dock for the ferry which was late arriving because of rough weather, and consequently late leaving. We hoped they would make up time but rough seas meant they couldn't so we were late into Portsmouth too, the next afternoon but were welcomed by a lovely rainbow over Southsea.

Waiting for the ferry

Southsea Common with rainbow. Somewhere I knew well 40 years ago!

Some bits of Portsmouth recognisable, but some additions!

This bit - the south side of Whale Island opposite the ferry terminal - looks pretty
much as it did in the 1970s, with rows of Bosun dinghies hauled out. No Royal
Yacht now though.

From North to South through Spain and back again - Part 4 Salamanca continued... onwards and upwards

18th October - Salamanca continued

 The House of Shells is a famous Salamanca landmark - neat way of breaking up an expanse of bare wall with projecting carved cockle shells. Looks a bit like a climbing wall but, as far as I know, even the university students haven't been tempted!

 Typical street in the casco historico with paved streets running down to what was presumably a central gutter. Narrow streets and high buildings reflect the need for shade.

 The Plaza Major is what everyone comes to see! An amazing open space and so lovely that it doesn't have traffic. The arcades around the sides are full of (expensive) cafes.

 It is a simple, direct, walk through from the Cathedrals to the Plaza Major and back again, unlike Toledo's winding streets!
This is the north side of the New Cathedral.

 And this neat little cupola over what is presumably a spiral staircase tower, caught my eye.

 As did this lovely pointed dome with its scalloped tiles and bold use of crocketing.

 A bit more geology just to finish off - a mafic enclave in granite paving - this is on the way up the ramp into the Casco Historico.
Such a smooth, rounded shape implies that it must have been pretty well melted into a lava lamp type blob within the cooling granite magma surrounding it.






From here we headed on north, stopping overnight in Tordesillas as we had on the way down. Once you find a good campsite it is worth noting, though there are many more inland than when we first began travelling in Spain some twenty years ago.

And here we are again with yet more windmills. Spain does well at wind farms - traditional I guess in Castile-La Mancha?

 And the other thing we spotted as we heading into our final mountains - the Cantabrian range - and apart from some rather nice cuttings, was the cow passes and ramps. Whether it was the time of day, but spotted cows heading up to be milked on several occasions.

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 And the other thing of course is the Spanish passion for rearranging the countryside - "ooh a mountain, let's knock it to bits, pop it in lorries, and build something."

Finally reached our goal, the caves at Altamira. We had seen some stunning caves and cave art in France a few years ago at Peche-Merle in particular so were keen to see this too,
Unfortunately you don't see the "actual" caves - too fragile but there is quite a good reproduction. Doesn't feel the same, but I guess it is the only way to conserve the art.

From here we went to Santillana del Mar - next episode.....

Spain, North to South and back again, Part 3 Salamanca

Friday 17th October 2014

 Just downstream from the main road bridge over the River Duero is the old "Roman" bridge. Inverted commas because everything not new in Spain is "Roman". However, it just may be!
Pedestrians only these days but recommended as a great viewpoint before you explore the city itself which is, as usual, built on a bit of a hill up above the river.

 And, for the geologists, check this out - mafic rich enclaves in the granite the bridge is built of, some of which have feldspar phenocrysts within them. There's an interesting geological history!

 Not one, but two cathedrals: by the time the old cathedral, 12th C Romanesque style, was completed the city had outgrown it so a larger one was begun next door in the 16th C Gothic style and completed in the 18th C.  

Still on the bridge, a headless "porca" - ancient Celtic fertility idol, sculpted in granite. These are common in Portugal and the neighbouring areas of Spain.

 Inside  the new cathedral, I was fascinated by the tesselated floor, various patterns made up of blocks of slate, sandstone, granite etc, and biggish slabs, the repeats are around 45 cm or more across.

And a Spanish cathedral wouldn't be a Spanish cathedral without an opulent display of New World gold!

More flooring, this time very neatly regimented grave slabs.

 I've always been fascinated by vaulting and loved this dome in a side chapel. Reminds me of an octopus the way the ribs join and come down to where the tentacles would be.

 This little beast took my fancy too - he, and his mates, all little 10 cm chaps, are in the metal grille which surrounds a tomb.

Something else which took my fancy was these decorated beams from the Moorish period. Really like to do the beams in my sitting room like this but perhaps not a productive use of time!

Another dome, different style of vaulting for this one - how many ways can you vault a circular space? Liked the decorated ribs, specially the ones that look like a row of CDs.

 Obviously we aren't the only country that makes corn dollies - this lovely example was tied to the railings of a chapel.

 Another thing that is quite a feature of Spanish cathedrals is pipe organs - this one has an adaptation I've only seen in Spain (though that could by my lack of observation!) which is an array of horizontal pipes jutting out near the base.

This organ is older - some sort of medieval I suppose and the pipes are enclosed in a box of painted wooden panels.

However the really interesting bit in this photo is the crack running down the wall to its right - caused by the Lisbon earthquake in 1755. There's geology everywhere if you look!

Spain, North to South and back again, Part 2

As I'm off down to Andalucia again in a couple of weeks I thought I had better finish this off before I go!
Now then, I left us about to go into Toledo for the second time - family will realise why I went back, it was Christmas shopping time :)
So, picking up where I left off...

Toledo - 16 October 2015

Sticking to what we knew, as there was a particular shop to visit, we wandered up through the Juderia, got the buying done, and then had more of a wander around, interspersed with a few cafe cortados.

 The Museum of Visigoth culture took our fancy - it is in an old basilica style church, much of which dates back to the Caliphate, but which also incorporates some early Visigoth stones, pillar capitals and so on.
The caliphate inheritance is obvious in the horseshoe arches and red and white striped stonework, whilst there's a dome over the crossing that looks very romanesque.

 Loved this dragon - reminded me very much of Welsh ones - that's why it is here!Presumably though it is St George who has found his way from the eastern to the western Mediterranean?

The church of San Pedro the martyr has been recently restored - Toledo is full of helpful signboard etc, and is very very "tidied up" - obviously a good money spinner as there are hordes of tourists visiting by the busload!

Lovely example of rejas on a large first floor window secure, yet giving a really good view up and down the street

Students hanging out on the steps of one of the university buildings

 What super street lights!

Some great cake shops - with lots of marzipan goodies in them. One in particular is shaped like an eel with its tail in its mouth, and the centre of the ring filled with crystallised fruit. Not cheap.

Marzipan goodies. We contented ourselves with a €2 bag with half a dozen little ones!









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Salamanca - 16th October

Travelling south to north across Spain is a "corrugated" journey - from the mountains in the south, down into the Guadalquivir basinm then up over the Sierra Morena and down onto the plains of La Mancha.
Once north of Toledo we went up and over the Sierra de Gredos, part of the central mountain range.

Flying over this in winter it is often snow covered and there are ski resorts around Madrid.

In October the weather was lovely, but we could see the snow fences alongside exposed sections of road, and the many wind farms seemed to have no problem finding a breeze.








Down the northern side and the country began to flatten out and, once past Avila (in the middle distance) we came into true "mamba" country (miles and miles of b***** all)

 Mamba country between Avila and Salamanca

The city of Salamance is visible from far off across the plain - so often this is the approach to a Spanish city - long, weary miles of nothing except the towers of churches or, in the case of a modern city, the skyscrapers, to lead you on.

Salamanca is approached over the River Duero - the usual neat, defensive position on a bit of a river cliff.

Amazingly the parking was very easy, and free! We parked in a very pleasant road above the river and within a couple of hundred metres of the casco historico.