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HOTEL PALACIO DEL MAR **** Avenida Cantabria, 5, Santander (Cantabria) Tel. +34 94 239 24 00 Fax. +34 94 239 22 20 Send an e-mail |
| SANTANDER GUIDE : Turism in Cantabria | |
| CITY OF SANTANDER | |
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Santander, the capital of the Autonomous Community of Cantabria, is an elegant, stately city located in a sheltered bay. It seems to have been designed specially as a tourist destination. At least it was in this way that the Spanish royal family perceived it. They picked this city to build their summer home, from which Isabella II started the trend of bathing in the waves, back in 1861. Santander has many parks and gardens, like the beautiful El Sardinero park and the frequented Paseo de Pereda. The city life has never turned its back on the sea. Santander has also renewed its infrastructure, with the construction of a new zoo, where we can see penguins, and the picturesque palace of La Magdalena. Another great sight is the postmodern Festivals' Palace, built by Saénz de Oiza, which affords excellent views of the city and the Cantabrian Sea. The many summer events held in the city make it the cultural capital of Spain during the summertime. The Menéndez Pelayo International University summer courses, and the rowing regatta, along with concerts, plays, and the Santander International Music Festival, contribute to enliven the city during the months of July and August. |
| SARDINERO AND PALACE OF MAGDALENA | |
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In the part of Santander where there is most tourism is El Sardinero. Opposite this famous beach you can enjoy one of the most beautiful promenades in Spain, with magnificent buildings such as the Gran Casino, which evokes the architecture of the Belle Époque. The Plaza de Italia, with its elegant, lively summer terraces, and the Piquío Gardens, which are situated on a rocky inlet marking the separation between the two beaches of El Sardinero, complete the picture. Between the historic quarter and El Sardinero is the peninsula on which the la Magdalena Park and the royal palace are sited, the latter being inaugurated in 1913 as the summer residence of King Alfonso XIII. The residence, which is English in style, has excellent stables and is surrounded by extensive gardens and wooded areas. This privileged area for relaxation becomes during the summer months the nerve centre for the famous summer courses of the International Menéndez Pelayo University, a forum which brings together both students and the most outstanding figures in the most varied fields of knowledge. |
| ALTAMIRA CAVES | |
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Important examples of prehistoric cave paintings.The line of the cave is irregular and measures some 270 m long. It has a lobby, a gallery and the side room. The caves contain one of the best examples of prehistoric cave paintings. The paintings are some 14,000 years old and represent bison, deer, boars, horses, and so on. They are done in natural red ochre paints, outlined in black. In order to ensure their conservation, its structure and paintings have been painstakingly reproduced in the Neocave at the Altamira Museum, using the same pictorial procedures. Thus, the visitor can admire the great ceiling with the polychromatic bison and visit the workshop of these painters, where the techniques used in this masterpiece of cave painting are explained. |
| HOTEL PALACIO DEL MAR **** Avenida Cantabria, 5, Santander (Cantabria) -Tel. +34 94 239 24 00 - Fax. +34 94 239 22 20 - Send an e-mail | © 2009. Website optimized by Sercotel |
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