For anyone interested in staying in Cantabria, particularly if they would like to know about our accommodation in a house to ourselves, and also about beaches, fiestas, etc. read on.
After spending 2 nights in Madrid (I will post about our family experience there separately), we drove over the mountains from Burgos to the small Cantabrian village of Pando, which is situated about 3k from Comillas and slightly inland. The drive was spectacular and we marvelled at the eagles we saw souring over the mountain edges, even when we found out they were vultures!
Inside the air-conditioned rental car (another post I will do sometime in the future) it seemed that the weather had changed from the blue skies of Madrid with its heat, to something much more temperate and dull and cool. The weather was in fact very different, but fascinatingly so; you could see 2 completely separate weather conditions at once, and the temperature for the most of the time was extremely pleasant.
We arrived at the tiny village of Pando and found the house of the lady who had the key for the house which would be ours for 2 weeks. She saw us coming and opened the door with a big friendly smile and introduced us to the owner of the house we were to stay in, who happened to be visiting her family. ‘Our’ house belongs to this gentleman who vacates it for a few weeks in the summer and lets it out. We practiced our minimal Spanish with him, but he did speak very good English. He was to spend the next couple of weeks in Santander, but seemed genuinely pleased to be letting us make use of his home. Although the house had been mostly emptied, there were still several drawers full of his personal belonging, and of course all his stuff in his kitchen cupboards.
The house was advertised as sleeping 8, but could easily have slept 9 with the option of another 3 double sofa beds cunningly included in the furniture. It was an old house which had been modernised, and still had it’s almost derelict barn attached.
We were a family of 8 – myself, husband, 3 children and my parents, and the house was more than adequate in size for all of us. We managed the whole 2 weeks there with no compromise on privacy etc. The house was on 3 floors; the bottom floor had a large hall, a smallish living/dining area with TV (which we weren’t expecting), a kitchen and a shower room with washing machine. The next floor had a landing area (and front door), 2 double bedrooms and a pink bedroom with a big picture of kittens on the wall (good job we had our 5 year old daughter with us!), there was also a full bathroom on this floor. The top floor was open plan and had three single beds, a small bathroom and a light and airy sitting area. This was a big area which also had 2 double bed settees.
Anyway, that’s enough of the details of the house, I just thought others might like to know what we got for our money!
We soon found that our village did not have a shop or bar, only a few houses, a sort of central grassy area (defined only by a semi circle of plane trees) and a church. 10-15 mins walk away was the village of Ruiloba, which although it has no shop, has everything else – bars, bolos pitch, church, municipal swimming pool, lovely old buildings, and old windy paths past interesting gardens and through eucalyptus woods.
We joined in the local fiestas (San Roque being the one celebrated in Pando itself), and were warmly welcomed and included. The dancing was completely compelling, especially the men who danced with castanets and kept it going for ages and ages, almost sending us into a trance, especially when they continued in the church. I don’t think I can explain it, I think it’s one of those things where you just had to be there.
A foam machine was brought for the children in the fiesta in Ruiloba and the bolos pitch filled whilst they all went crazy (much cleaner than tomatoes!). The main family in the village of Pando made a big vat of delicious hot chocolate for the village children during the night of the fiesta – it was ceremoniously stirred by the family members, and stuff added and taken out (?), until it met the required taste and consistency. It was pouring down this night, but everyone just got on with it – the plane trees offered some protection. When the children had all got their share of chocolate and biscuits, it was offered to the adults who dutifully queued up to approach the vat – what a treat at the end of a busy day.
Later, the little old barn, which was attached to our house and had been cleaned out by the men and boys of the village, became a fully stocked bar. We sat on our patio and were treated as royalty with barbequed pork on bread being passed up regularly on a paper plate. The ‘bar’ had been kitted out with all the important bottles, and a fantastically delicious lemon punch style drink had been prepared with finely chopped fresh lemons during the afternoon; this was served from a bin from behind the bar, and had the appearance of being highly dodgy, but was actually the most wonderful alchoholic (or otherwise) drink I have ever ever tasted. The bar had been decorated with eucalyptus branches tied to the walls and strewn on the floor.
The festivities went on until 3am, but I’m sure would have gone on for longer if it hadn’t been teaming down with rain.
The beaches we visited were great, with lots of fairly big waves. What I didn’t understand though was the number of people still in the water when the red flags were flying – I have to admit that this included us. The coast guards were there, but didn’t do anything to stop anyone, they were even sitting in their look out towers. The water felt cold at first, but certainly wasn’t. I’m a bit soft when it comes to staying in cold water, but here you couldn’t get me out unless I was promised an ice cream.
The beaches were very very clean. They were not crowded and they looked beautiful. What was so relaxing was that there were no buffoons on the beaches spoiling it for anyone else; there were no people touting for any kind of business either. It meant that when you arrived, you knew that you could just do what you wanted to do with no harassment of any kind.
Most beaches had showers and coast guards, but not all. We meant to visit some more of the smaller beaches, but time ran out, and to be honest, the ones we went to had a small beach feel due to the serene atmosphere.
We visited Cabazon de la Sal for it’s fiesta, Comillas for it’s market and to visit the municipal cemetery, San Vicente de la Barquera with it’s phenomenal seafood restaurants and church (which looks up a very peaceful estuary where we could hear the curlews and cow bells).
We used our very limited Spanish to the best of our ability and our efforts were certainly appreciated.
My parents have stayed on another 2 weeks as they are climbing in the Picos de Europa. I had a telephone call from them last night and they were spending a couple of days away from walking and taking advantage of the current hot spell by the coast.
Cantabria is certainly an area I would recommend. For families who enjoy getting away from it, with opportunities to join in local life, or keep some privacy, and have the benefit of some superb beaches and wildlife and walking opportunities, but still be near to some bigger places and their related activities, it would be hard to beat. I enjoyed the fact that we did not come into contact with any other English speaking people - nothing against them, it's just nice to be in Spain with Spanish people.
If anyone would like to know any more, please ask and I’ll try to fill you in (why does my husband always laugh when I use that phrase? It must mean something different in Yorkshire from Cumbria!).
I’ll post about our experiences with car hire, accommodation in Madrid and also our nights in Burgos and Aranda de Duero.
Oh, I wish I were in Spain now!
Jo
[ 08-30-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]
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