Santander

The weekend started early saturday morning with a long trek to Stansted Airport. Some really good friends of mine, Joe and Linda (and their kids - Jasper and Ella) have been in Europe for the past month or so and I was meeting them in Santander, Spain.

Unfortuntely Ryanair was the only airline that flew there, and they only flew from Stansted. It took a good four hours to get to the airport from Spain! Anyway, the flight there was uneventful (although cramped) and Joe, Linda, Joe's Dad and the kids were waiting at the airport for me.

It had been a good sixth months since I had seen them last so it was really good to see them again. We headed into Santander proper - Joe and his father were from the area, so it was nice to have a guide showing us around.

We headed to the park surrounding the old summer palace for the Spanish Monarch which was right on the beach front. It was a beautiful area. Nice and green with heaps of things for kids to do. We walked around the animal enclosures they had (the kids loved them) and then got on a little train for a quick tour of the park - it was very impressive.

We then headed back to the Posada where Joe's dad was staying (there was no room for us there, so we were staying close by) to have dinner, before heading back to our Posada for the night.

Jasper was up first on Sunday, but he entertained himself and went downstairs to have breakfast with the owner. After we had ours, we headed over to pick up Joe's dad and then headed towards Asturias and Fuente De in the Parque Nacional Picos de Europa. It was a beautiful drive there, through forest and parkland. The north of Spain is remarkably different to the South. I think it is actually a bit nicer. Definately a lot greener.

At Fuente De we jumped on a cable car to take us up the mountain. The view from the top was spectacular. Once we made it back down to the bottom (I will have to go back and walk down the mountain one day) we headed over to the beach town of Comillas.

It was a beautiful village with cobblestone streets and even a Gaudi designed building. Whilst we were walking around Joe and his Dad ran into some relatives which was a nice meeting for them. The kids also played in the park for a while before we all headed back to the Posada for dinner.

Today we headed back over to Comillas and went to the beach. It was nice having a bit of a swim and relax. We had a beautiful lunch at an old house where Joe's dad use to play Boule. It was a nice end to a far too short weekend in Spain.

After dropping me off at the airport and a short stopover in Stansted, I am now in Dublin. Tomorrow I am off to Chicago for six days!

Click on the photo below (of Ella and Jasper) to see all the photos.