Santander, a wonderful city of sea and mountains.

I can say many things about this beautiful city but let´s start with its origins. In 1755 the queen Fernando VI gave the title of city to the village of Santander, and this was considered the city of sea and mountains since it had both but if I started to tell the whole story it would never end.

Another curiosity is one of the best know events was the fire in Santander in 1941, which began in street Cadiz and ended in street Sevilla, which is why it was called The Andaluz.

To finish, I´m going to talk to you about the typical plate and the most well know place, to get started the plate most typical it´s the “rabas” (squid) and the places most wonderful it´s the beach “El Sardinero”, the palace of “La Magdalena” that is very pretty and have a beautiful view of the sea.

 This is all if you think I have left something leave it in the comments I will be reading.

https://www.spain.info/en/destination/santander/

Do you know who are the Indianos? Many Spanish people went to try their luck in America, the new continent, at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century due to the low standard of living and the compulsory military service in the Moroccan campaigns. From Brazil, Cuba, Mexico or Argentina, many came from their former hometowns of Asturias, Galicia, País Vasco or Cantabria, most of them empty-handed. But a small group of fortunate ones were able to amass large fortunes thanks to the tobacco industry or coal mining. They and their descendants were called Indianos.

The best souvenir the Indianos could leave for their hometowns was their housing. They made use of the best architects and decorators of the time to create a display of power and wealth in majestic buildings of ostentatious character and eclectic and exotic taste.

Today, many of these palaces are abandoned or in ruins, although some of these buildings have been remodelled and are open to the public.

It is characterised by historicist architecture: neo-Romanesque, neo-Gothic or neo-Mudejar, which seek a return to the past, to the medieval. The materials used during this period were iron, concrete, marble and tools such as pulleys, levers and machinery used to carry heavy objects.

The most famous building is El Capricho, of Gaudi.

The museum's history goes back to the creation of a Board of Directors in 1924. The museum’s first facility was a rustic house built to exhibit and conserve the objects found at the excavations and as a dwelling for its first custodian.

The growing number of visitors from the mid-20th century on made it necessary to build a new centre. The National Museum and Research Centre of Altamira was created by the Ministry of Culture in 1979. Its purpose was to construct a scientific and administrative instrument in order to better manage and conserve the cave of Altamira.

The Museum’s current home was opened in 2001, in a building planned by the architect Juan Navarro Baldeweg. The protection of the cave of Altamira was the principal deciding factor for its location, conception and construction.

https://www.culturaydeporte.gob.es/mnaltamira/en/visita/horario.html

Have you ever heard of Santillana del mar?

Known as "the town of the three lies", because it is neither "holy", nor "flat", nor does it have "sea", Santillana del Mar is the capital of a municipality of 4,000 inhabitants dedicated mostly to farming and especially to tourism. To speak of Santillana del Mar is to also speak of the Altamira Cave. Santillana del Mar is one of the towns with the greatest historical-artistic value in Spain and the main focus of tourist attention in Cantabria, which makes it one of the most visited and attractive places in the region.

Santillana del Mar (Capital), 1021 hab. It is located 82 meters above sea level at the bottom of a basin surrounded by small hills. Riaño. It is the smallest population entity in the municipality, located to the south of Viveda. The origins of the current Santillana del Mar date back to the s. VIII, a time when a group of monks who carried with them the relics of a martyr named Juliana, settled in an uninhabited area near the village of Planes, located at the foot of Mount Vispieres. The collegiate church of Santa Juliana de Santillana del Mar (Cantabria, Spain), to which this Cantabrian town owes its name (Sant Iuliana-Santillana), is one of the most representative Romanesque monuments in the region. It was declared a National Monument of Spain on March 12, 1889.

You will  truly be amazed by its beauty!

Tell me in the comments:  what is the most picturesque village you have visited? 

https://santillanadelmarturismo.com/

The Museum of Torture is a private museum located in Santillana del Mar, Cantabria, which contains more than fifty original instruments of torture and capital punishment from Europe from the 15th to the 19th centuries. It is a typology a very widespread historical museum in Spain due to the long-standing presence of the Inquisition.

The objects exhibited in the museum were donated by a  private collection and belong to various stages of history, from the Middle Ages to the industrial age.

The building, which has several floors, is divided into several sections:

-Exemplary punishment and public humiliation.

-Physical punishment and torture of prisoners.

-Instruments of execution.

-Devices created to specifically torture women.

Each piece is exhibited with historical illustrations and its corresponding legend, which summarizes how it was used in those times, what type of crime this punishment was applied to, and in what time and place it was used.

In total, the museum brings together more than a hundred instruments of torture between original pieces and current reconstructions.

http://www.museodelatortura.com/

WHAT’S UP READERS?!

Fun fact, do you know what is the favorite activity of all the tourists that visit Santander? No clue, right? Is it visiting the Magdalena Palace? Wrong answer, it’s not. It’s actually Santander’s Boat rides, and do you know why? Every single tourist that goes to one leaves the boat with a stunning picture of the coast in their minds, and I’m telling you, they will keep it for many years.

Just imagine watching Santander’s coast with the sun sinning in the sky. You can even see the Centro Botín and the Magdalen Palace from the distance. I know, it sounds nice, right?

Most of the tourists prefer taking a boat ride in the evening because then they can kill two birds with one stone. They can watch Santander trough the coast with the best type of light,(when everything is orange)and, correct me if I’m wrong, but nowadays taking photos every time you go travelling is just a normal thing, and so, what better way to do it than when the landscape is in its most breathtaking state?

I bet you just want to take a boat ride right now, am I wrong?

https://www.losreginas.com/rutas-en-barco/

Hi readers,

Have you ever heard anything about Magdalena´s Palace? Keep reading and I´ll tell you everything.

The Magdalena´s Palace is one of the most popular places in Santander.This place, is surrounded by the sea,has parks,a zoo,a palace,beaches…

This area has wonderful views over the beaches of “La Magdalena”,”Bikinis” and ”Dromedario”.The palace was built in 1911 for Alfonso XII family.In the 70s,Don Juan de Borbón sold the palace to the city and it became an artistic historical monument.

The  Magdalena´s Palace has a marine zoo where seals,sea lions and penguins live together and make children happy when they came to look at them. Next to the marine zoo we find and oper-air museum with three boats that teach the adventures of the sailor Vital Alsar.

Also this place has wooder status everywhere and a tourist train that runs along the whole Magdalena.

A perfect plan to spending the day  to seeing the views ,walking the dog and be with your family.

Don´t miss any of my posts!

https://www.palaciomagdalena.com/

Do you want to take a picture in one of the most beautiful landmarks you have probably ever seen? this is your spot!

The lighthouse is an emblematic place of santander , it was built in 1838, but the first time the light was turned on was the 15th of August of 1838.

The lighthouse was built for the ships that came to santander with Merchants to the port, this was one of the most special landmarks of santander because it has many history, it is situated in the extreme of santander near to the sea and has very good views of the sunset.

In 1940, during the day people used flags for the ships and at night they used fireto show the correct path to the ships.  The price of the building was 460.000 reales that was near to 85.000 euros.

 The builder selected this place because it was in the bay gate and all ships that came to santander could see it.  The lighthouse has 30m of tall and you can see the lighthouse from nearly every place of santander.

Also,  near the lighthouse there is a beach that has the name of mataleñas, which is  amazing during the summer.

  An important curiosity about this place is that  during the civil War the people that supported Franco's dictatorship  threw the people that supported the comunist ideology from the lighthouse down.

Don't forget to visit it if you come to Santander!

https://turismo.santander.es/en

 SEO Birdlife, what??? 

Hey, do you know what the SEO/Birdlife workshop is? The SEO/Birdlife workshop is a conservative organisation whose motto is “Together for the birds and the people”, and somewhere this motto turns in reality is, without doubts in Astillero. A little village with a huge variety of biodiversity and ecosystems whose neighbourhoods are very involved in keeping them in the best possible qualities.

Birds are a faithful indicator of the state of health of the environment and their presence bodes well for the quality of life of future generations. At Astillero, the City Council and SEO/Birdlife have been working together since 1999, implementing a wide variety of actions in favour of biodiversity, the conservation and recovery of natural habitats; actions that are based on three basic pillars: research, conservation and environmental education. More than a hundred species of birds, which throughout the year make use of the network of natural spaces recovered in Astillero, endorse the efficiency of this alliance, which also demonstrates the importance of cooperation between public entities and Non-Governmental Organizations for the protection of our environment.

SEO/Birdlife workshop is located on the Black marshes next to one of the access to Astillero. The workshop is a tiny building were you can do different kind of projects related to the biodiversity of the marshes and also learn a lot of things about them and the natural habitats that are located there.

I hope you find this information interesting, you are ready to learn more about it?

https://seo.org/

The Alday Marsh is the vestige of what was once a great marsh. It is located in the town of Maliaño surrounded by infrastructure such as highways, railway lines and the Valle Real de Maliaño shopping centre. Is a place of great ornithological and environmental interest, being the habitat of numerous aquatic birds. It is an intertidal plain where the waters of the Raos estuary and the Alday channel once met those of the Cantabrian Sea.

 The most common plant species are reeds, rushes and bulrushes and riverside forests such as hazelnut trees, willows, birches or ash trees. The greatest richness appears during the winter, when it is easy to observe a great number of migratory species. During the summer, nesting birds and some resident birds can be observed. This reserve has three observatories and a viewpoint that facilitate the observation of the birds of the marsh; in addition there is a wide network of paths that connect the different points of observation.

  Official website:

https://fnyh.org/en/foundation/programs/the-green-belt-of-santander-bay/alday-marshes/

The etnobotanical centre is A beautiful place in Camargo, Cantabria full of workshops and activities, whose purpose is to recover and preserve the botanical diversity of the Cantabrian Mountains. 

Are you interested in botany? Is the preservation of the environment and reforestation an important and/or interesting topic for you?

If so, I am happy to tell you that the etnobotanic centre of the Bosques del Anillo Verde is for you. In Cantabria we have this beautiful place, composed by a center, a forest nursery, and wide green areas. Now, I'm going to tell you about each one of them!

First, the center. The most interesting feature is its green roof, on which grass grows freely. It also has a greenhouse. The center is the place where workshops and activities take place.

The forest nursery has been active since 1999 and is where all reforestation actions are carried out for the Fundation Naturaleza y Hombre, whose purpose is to recover and preserve the botanical diversity of the Cantabrian Mountains. 300,000 specimens of various species such as birch, beech, oak, Cantabrian oak, holly or ash are produced annually, applying measures that respect the environment. In addition, you will have the opportunity to acquire a great diversity of specimens among the 100 different ones that are produced!

Finally, in the wide green areas of the Natural Area of Special Interest, we can find various Cantabrian habitats such as the mixed forest and the Atlantic meadow. There is also an organic garden or a pond for amphibians. It is located very close to the cave of El Pendo.

I really hope to see all of you there, and that you can have a wonderful experience in this place. And remember to let me know what you think!

https://fnyh.org/en/

9:00 Meeting Point: IES El Astillero

 Educational Video. (Include film recordings of interviews and   visits as well as graphs, pictures and others).

 Sharing pictures & recordings. Selecting & editing.

11:00 Break

11:30 Genially workshop. Digital Interactive Touristic Guide & Video Editing

13:15 Break

13:30 Meeting in Auditorium with Spanish Erasmus students and attendance certification

14:30 Lunch at high school