I left for Santander on friday morning. Due to ALSA, the Spanish bus company, having technical problems on their website I had to buy a ticket at the station. The bus I wanted was leaving at 12:30, so being conservative I left my apartment at 11 and took a 20 minute metro ride to the wrong stop. Unknowingly I got off and proceded to look around a random area of Madrid for 45 minutes for a bus station that didn't exist there. Luckily I found a lady who spoke english and she pointed me in the right direction. I arrived at the bus station with 10 minutes to spare, bought a ticket, and was on my way to Santander.
My first night in the city was hampered by rain. I met an old friend and went to a few bars but the city was dead, and left me hoping that the next day would be better for exploring the area.
When I woke up the next morning the sun was shining and the view of the bay with the snow covered mountains in the back was absolutely breath taking. I had no clue what I was in for the rest of the day.
These two shots were taken from outside of the city golf course. The picture on the left is an inlet created by 2 cliffs on either side. If you can imagine the beach in the bottom right corner stretching back another 100 yards, then add a stage at the head of the beach. My friend Pablo was telling me about the parties they would throw here with upwards of 300 people coming out (the picture I took on my Iphone sucked and was not worth showing in public). The photo on the right isn't really of anything special, I thought it looked cool, deal with it.
This next trio of snap shots all have to do with my favorite piece of history about Santander. There is a famous casino in the city called Casino Sardinero (bottom right). I am told that back in the early 20th century many a Spaniard would go there to gamble. Some would even be as brave to gamble their entire savings, daughters, and wives. Once they had sufficiently lost everything they had, the gambler would feel pretty depressed some would even say suicidal. The suicidal gamblers would drive up to El Faro (spanish for lighthouse) and proceed to drive off of the cliff. Because so many people participated in this messed up semi-tradition the city put a cross at the location of el faro (center below). Normally the crucifix is not one of my favorite images, but I could not help falling in love with this statue of a man holding on for dear life at the base of the cross. The imagery mixed with the location was hysterical to me.
Sadly though the tradition of suiciding in this area continues. A man as recently as 5 days ago drove off the cliff at el faro after his wife left him, took all of his money and the kids. The area he drove off from was blocked off by police barriers (bottom left)
I ended my day in the park located on the land of the King's old vacation castle. The park had one of the most depressing zoos I have ever seen. The lions cage was empty and the polar bears had also died off. On top of that the sea lions were kept in barley enough water to survive. They looked depressed and I didn't have the heart to take pictures.
The last shot of the day comes from the cliffs of the park. The waves crashed onto the rocks as the sunset over the city. Racing Santander was playing a night game in the second division. Everything was peaceful. At the end of my stay in Santander I felt ready to head back to take on the hustle and bustle of Madrid.
I must also give a huge thank you to Carmen Zamanillo Peral, and Pablo and Rafa Chico for their hospitality. They really made this weekend special.
And as Always, I swear it gets better.
~Gruber
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