Walking the City

Thursday, May 11, 2017--Santander, Spain

Santander is a bit like San Francisco.  It is on a peninsula (although it doesn't cover all of the peninsula) and has hills.  Just from my apartment, I can see escalators that take passengers from my street up two more streets.  The inclines are not as steep in Santander, but they are here.

The street my apartment faces, although the names change along the way, is actually a very long main street of the city.  Almost anything worth seeing by tourists is within 3-4 blocks (often uphill) on either side of it.  Today, I walked from here to the end of the old center of town and back.  I had covered part of it yesterday, but today I went much further.  When one reaches the old area, it is near the water front, so there are blustery winds much of the time, and the air is cooler. 

Like Logrono, Santander is a city that was very small until recent decades.  The old center of town is even smaller than that in Logrono and is not as ancient.  Most of the buildings in the old center of town are actually from the late 1800s/early 1900s making it a city much like many in the US.  But there are some magnificent buildings within that range of time including two occupied by Santander Bank (click here for an image of one of them) which started here and is probably the main reason anyone from outside Spain has ever heard of the city.  The Cathedral de Santa Maria de la Asuncion is from the 1500s downtown which is built above the old Roman baths, but Santander is mostly a modern city with the old center taking up maybe only 12-15 blocks.

The city is also a cruise stop.  There was a large ship in the harbor today and there were many tourists wandering around the downtown area.   In addition to that, it has ferry service between here and Plymouth/Portsmouth in the UK. 

Starting with clouds, but clearing by 10:00, it remained a cool day.  The clouds started returning by late afternoon.  I mainly walked up and down the streets looking inside old shops, looking at the architecture, etc.  I was very disappointed:  1) To find that the Mercado del Este is not a traditional market anymore but is filled with restaurants, shops, and a tourist office; 2) That the Museo de Arte Moderno y Contemporaneo is closed for refurbishment; and 3) That there are no concerts scheduled for today, Friday, or Saturday other than rock bands at bars.  I did find a traditional market near where I am living, but less than half of its space was occupied by sellers. 

After tiring of exploring, I sat in a park for a while to read.  Then I eventually returned to my comfortable apartment to read more, and just be comfortable for the rest of the day.