23 Jan 26 - ORCA Canaries Cruise - A Cunning Plan Part 2 - Santillana Del Mar

Due to the very rough seas off the Portuguese coast, the Spirit of Discovery had been forced to seek sanctuary in Santander for a few days. I decided to hire a car for our second full day in Santander and explore a few local sites. It was good that Chris and Fiona decided to join me as this reduced the car hire costs. Our first location had been the excellent Altamira Cave. The next obvious choice was the nearby small touristy town of Santillana del Mar, which was less than a ten minute drive away.

Approaching Santillana del Mar: The town is preparing for global warming, as it's name is Santillana of the sea. However, even with all the polar ice melting, it seems unlikely it was end up as a coastal town

This proved to be a good decision and we had a great couple of hours wandering around it and grabbing a late lunch. Santillana del Mar was a lovely town. But it's a shame that it looked more like a Hollywood set, than a lived-in town. Presumably, there would have been more locals around had it been the tourist season, but perhaps it's like some of the bigger North Spanish towns and largely empty outside of the Summer.

The town is characterised by these old stone buildings and high stone walls

Another feature is the cobble-stone roads

Sadly, this level of fine detail in buildings is now a rare thing

I love these over-hanging balconies that are very typical in North Spanish buildings

More over-hanging windows balconies

Another old traditional building

These balconies allow the houses to maximise their size, whilst still allowing cart access on the road

The main square

Another view of the main square

Looking back across the main square

Some more of the lovely balconies

It's also interesting to see these large arches and covered areas: It would be interesting to have seen how these areas were used, when they were first built

Another cobbled road heading out of the village square

Looking across to the church

The square in front of the church: Chris confirming that the temperature was starting to drop by mid-afternoon

Walking back to the main square to get some food

Another house with a large, covered area

I love these old fine details in these old houses

Some more carvings of one of the buildings: However, it's frustrating to see all the anti-bird wire, which isn't good for the local wildlife and spoils the architecture

An old cart next to one of the town's bar

White Wagtail: This was one of the few Birds I saw in this small town. I did hear a distant Iberian Green Woodpecker calling on a couple of occasions. It would have been nice to look for, but it wasn't close

It was now about mid-afternoon and we still had some time left to explore the local area. There was enough time to head towards the Picos de Europa foothills for a quick look. We knew it wouldn't be a long visit, as it would be dark in about three hours, but there was still time for a quick drive. I will cover the final part of the day in the next Blog Post.

23 Jan 26 - ORCA Canaries Cruise - A Cunning Plan Part 1 - Ancient Spanish Mammals

The previous evening, the Captain on the Saga Canaries cruise announced that we were going to be staying in Santander port for a few more days, thanks to heavy seas blocking our passage South to the Madeira and Canaries. We also knew by this point, that our planned visit to the two Cape Verde islands had been ruled out (hence my removal of Cape Verde from the name of the cruise). The Saga team were looking at how they could replan the rest of the cruise to ensure we reach Madeira and the three Canary islands that were in the original route. Misquoting the late, great Eric Morecombe, we would still be visiting all those ports, but not necessarily in the right order. That was good news from my viewpoint, as the potential landbird Ticks for me were on Gran Canaria and Madeira. My only other potential Tick was Desertas Petrel, which could be drifting anywhere at sea. However, missing out on the seas between the Canaries and Cape Verde was a blow for the ORCA team, as they should have been good for Cetaceans: if only these seas weren't as angry as they were. The Captain also announced that the ship had laid on coach tours of Santander and to Bilboa's Guggenheim Art Gallery. I had already been on the Santander tour and didn't have any interest in visiting a modern art museum. It was time for a cunning plan.

There was a stunning sunrise over the hills to the East of Santander

I didn't fancy another day wandering around Santander, so I started looking at car hire. Fortunately, we were docked close to Santander's railway station, which has a number of car hire firms around it. I managed to book a car for the day. It was a bit more expensive than I would have normally paid for a one day booking, but Chris and Fiona were keen to join me and split the car hire costs. The first destination was Altamira Cave, about a thirty minute drive away.

I booked a group C car which should have been a Focus hatchback or similar car: So it was a pleasant surprise to be upgraded to a BMW 520

Altamira Cave is renowned for prehistoric cave art featuring charcoal drawings and paintings of contemporary local fauna and human hands. The cave was discovered in 1868 by Modesto Cubillas and subsequently studied by Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola from 1875. At the time, Sautuola realised the paintings were created by our Stone Age ancestors and this theory was published in 1880. This was a very controversial proposal, as this was the first time cave art had been seen in Europe. People at the time believe the paintings were forgeries. It took until 1902 for the scientific community to accept these paintings were genuine, after more cave art sites had been discovered in Europe. Sadly, Sautuola died in 1888 and never lived long enough for this acceptance.

This display shows how the Stone Age ancestors might have sat around a campfire in the cave

The earliest paintings in the Altamira Cave have been dated to around 36,000 years ago. The youngest paintings date to about 13,000 years ago, when a rock fall sealed the cave off. By the 1970s, the paintings were so popular that the authorities were concerned about visitor numbers damaging them and Altamira Cave was closed to the public in 1977.

An example of an archaeological dig: Albeit I've never seen this many artifacts together on a Time Team dig

A replica cave and museum was built close to the real cave and they opened in 2001. Care was taken to ensure that the replica cave looked realistic. Having never visited any of the Stone Age art caves in Europe, this looked like a good starting option for the day.

Looking back on the replica cave entrance

A walkway continues to descend into the replica cave until you finally reach the cave paintings.

The cave ceiling were very busy with paintings

This looks like an ancient Bison: This is presumably the now extinct Steppe Bison

Another ancient Bison

Another ancient Bison

More ancient Bisons

Another ancient Bison

Is this a Stone Age hunter?

An ancient Deer

An artist's impression of the Steppe Bison and Deer in the local environment when the cave was occupied

The walkway to the museum from the replica cave leads past some charcoal and scratched cave art.

Charcoal cave art

Scratched cave art

This exhibit shows how painting on the shape of the rock is used to create a face

The excellent museum provides more information on Altamira Cave, the many other North Spanish and European caves with cave art and examples of Stone Age art from other locations.

A newspaper which described the original discovery of the Altamira Cave

Sautuola book publicising the Altamira Cave

There are now over two hundred sites on the North Spanish coast where cave art has been found, with the most important sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Some of the other important cave art sites in Northern Spain

Other important cave art sites from around the world

The museum also has examples of other cave art from other Spanish and European sites.

Hand paintings

Some of the earliest musical instruments made from bone

A photo of the Lion-man carved Mammoth tusk found in Germany that is about forty thousand years old

A photo of carved Mountain Goat carved into a Steppe Bison rib from the North Spanish La Garma Cave

Replica of Deer, Goats and a Horse cave art from the North Spanish El Pendo Cave

Examples of the stone tools that were in use about this time

There were also some replica skulls in the museum of Homo habilis, Homo heidelbergensis and an early Homo sapiens.

A replica Homo habilis skull: This Homo habilis skull was discovered in Tanzania and it is about one million, eight hundred thousand years old

A replica Homo heidelbergensis skull: This Homo heidelbergensis skull was discovered in Burgos, North Spain and it is about three hundred thousand years old

A replica Homo sapiens skull from the Cro-Magnon Cave in France: Homo sapiens started to appear in this area about thirty thousand years ago and replaced the Homo neanderthalensis (the Neanderthals) who had inhabited the area up to the appearance of our early ancestors

We had enjoyed a great visit to the Altamira Cave which proved to be better than I was expecting. However, it was time to move a couple of miles to the second destination in my cunning plan for the day. I will cover this in the next Blog Post.

The Altamira Cave and museum is located in lovely-looking countryside