The coast of Cantabria & Asturias

We travel the next couple of days from one coastal town to another, keeping the Bay of Bisque in sight while we drive into another autonomous region of Spain: Cantabria. Our first stop after leaving Bilbao is the medieval village called Santillana del Mar. Thanks to its name, it’s also known as the city of three lies: it is not holy (Santa), it is certainly not flat (Llana), and it’s not by the sea either (del Mar). By the high number of souvenir shops we can tell it gets crowded with tourists during peak season, however during our visit the streets are almost empty. We spend about two hours in town, and don’t leave without trying the local specialty of a glass of milk with a piece of Quesada: a Spanish version of cheesecake. Thanks to this treat we can postpone lunch with a few hours as it’s delicious but also very filling.

The next town on our route, Comillas, is actually at sea. The main purpose of our visit here is El Capricho de Gaudí: one of the few projects by the famous architect Antoni Gaudí outside of Catalonia. Like with his other work this house is not just brilliant in contextual and functional design, it’s also full of fun metaphors and hints to the passions of Gaudí himself (nature and organic designs) as well as of the client commissioning the project, Don Maxímo Díaz (music). We learn all about it through a well done free audio tour - making this place so much more special to experience. As the house was custom designed in all its details to fit the lifestyle and preferences of the owner, Maxímo Díaz, we were sad to learn that Maxímo only got to live there seven days after it finished as by bad fortune he then died. What an amazing place it must have been to live in.

We find our stop for the night in a third coastal town in yet another Spanish region: Llanes in Asturias. As it’s very early in season we need to put in a little work to find a nice camping that’s actually open, and so it’s to our surprise that the large and scenic camping we do find is completely empty except for some permanent stalled guests. We are greeted by a jolly man introducing himself in broken English as “the husband who was told to stay put at the reception while the boss wife went out to town”. When we explain to him we don’t need electricity for the night he tells us jokingly: “No power?! You need power! Power to drive! Power to hike! POWERRR!”. As Tim follows us by campervan, “the husband” and I walk up the slopes of the camping while he keeps singing the theme song of Pipi Longstocking and making many stops along the way to point out multiple locations of toilets, showers (with ranking of which is better to use), and a (closed) camping supermarket. A good opportunity of Tim to perfect the slope test with the green pod - I can see his confused expression from behind the window when we make yet another stop without reaching a destination. Eventually we are pointed to three different fields to choose from, however two out of three are discouraged actively if we plan to leave tomorrow: the changeable weather and soft grounds will likely sink the van into the muds. So much for choice :) And just as “the husband” finishes the tour, a hailstorm (?!) starts pouring down - he runs away laughing “I told you about the fields!” and we settle wisely for a hard ground spot looking out to a beautiful cliff & private beach. Cooking is done inside the van this time, but during dinner skies have cleared. We take a stroll down the beach before we head to bed.

The next day we go back to the private beach and walk a bit further to enjoy the stunning views of the Spanish coastline here. We explore the town of Llanes a bit more while it starts raining again - the regions of Cantabria and Asturias are known for being very green the entire year and it becomes clear to us it requires a good mix of sun and rain to make that happen. Our second stop down the route is Bufones de Pria. A formation of limestone cliffs along the water gives us a fantastic view, but also impressive sounds! Sea water finding its way into tunnels of the cliffs coming out in holes above the ground gives an incredible sound. The sea is too quiet today to actually splash water above the ground but it’s still a pretty cool experience.

We end the day in Ribadesella, just because it happens to have a random camping nearby, with the now familiar variety of warm sunshine followed by hailstones. With a good glass of wine, a collection of Spanish cheese and sausages and a very happy call from family in The Netherlands we can’t be bothered. Good night!Read more