CABÁRCENO NATURAL PARK
A remarkable park with various species in semi-liberty in Obregon.Read more
ALTAMIRA MUSEUM
A playful museum that invites you to travel back in time to the time of the ...Read more
REPLICA OF THE ALTAMIRA CAVE
A remarkable site to better understand how our ancestors lived in ...Read more
PALACIO REAL DE LA MAGDALENA
A royal palace, English and French style, hosting a summer university on ...Read more
PLAZA RAMÓN PELAYO
A remarkable square with Gothic and Renaissance palaces in Santillana.Read more
SOBRELLANO PALACE
Beautiful works of art in a neo-Gothic palace in Comillas.Read more
COVALANA CAVE
Read moreCertainly the most moving rock paintings on the Iberian Peninsula. While the gallery is smaller than in other caves and smaller paintings, they have been imagined and realized not as isolated drawings but as a true work of art thought with subjects communicating with each other and with the visitor as the latter moves into the cave. The light games and the shapes of the walls are studied to give the best effects of movements and the best possible prospects. It is really great art that you are advised to discover on a guided tour so that you don't lose much of the details that make Covalanas a special cave. The narrow gallery imposes small groups, 7 or 8 people, which encourages contact with works as with the guide. Rarely you will have the opportunity to be so close to original paintings in such a good state of conservation!
The cave is 2.5 km from the city center. A very pleasant hiking trail allows you to walk there on foot with a little more than 200 m. It's a good way to take the time to discover the beautiful panoramas surrounding the cave. It is believed that many populations inhabited caves in the prehistoric era. A total of 14 caves adorned with paintings or engravings were found in the vicinity.
Covalanas is a space entirely dedicated to painting, some kind of prehistoric cinema or museum. Research actually showed that the places of habitation were lower on the mountain, and only paint tools were found in the cave itself. The artist or artists came here only to exercise their art, for the purpose that we still do not know. In any case, they painted in a place where the only way to see the paintings was to bring the light. At 65 meters from the entrance of the cave, the gallery was actually plunged into the darkness, and lighting lamps had to contribute to giving movement effects to the represented animals.
The paintings would be 7,000 years more than Altamira bison and Lascaux mammoths. Animals represented here are deer and biches, animals placed very high in mammalian pantheon depicted on Hispanic walls. The technique used is that of pointillism: you will notice that the strokes are not full but made up of points of points obtained by affixing the thumb, coated with manganese oxide, on the wall. There are twenty figures, including a bison and a horse, all of which are biches or deer. While it is difficult of course to interpret the will of the artist, you will notice that the overall schema answers a plan and the choice of locations is not insignificant. Animals seem to look at us, get away or get closer to us, depending on where we are in the gallery, without any failure in the plot. At some distances, the biches of the entrance to the gallery may sound real, as the guet while the others already run on our arrival. The motives of Covalanas' artist will certainly never be known, and if the cave visit does not provide answers, it has at least the merit of prompting us to question the meaning of these paintings and the message they give us.
COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF SANTA JULIANA
A beautiful Romanesque collegiate church in Santillana, the most beautiful ...Read more
CASTILLO DEL REY
Castle on a rocky promontory housing an exhibition dedicated to the history ...Read more
PARK OF MONTE BUCIERO: FORTS OF SANTOÑA
Lighthouses and forts in a park overlooking the Bay of Santoña and the ...Read more
PALACIO MUSEO DE ELSEDO
Museum of Contemporary Art in a beautiful rural palace in Liérganes.Read more
UNIVERSIDAD PONTIFICIA COMILLAS
University in a modern neo-Gothic building in Comillas.Read more
CABO MAYOR
Wide natural promontory in Santander offering a bucolic walk to enjoy the ...Read more
MAGDALENA PENINSULA
A pleasant peninsula with an open-air zoo and a remarkable museum in ...Read more
CENTRO BOTÍN
This center exhibits contemporary art collections from the Fundación ...Read more
EL CAPRICHO DE GAUDÍ
A remarkable villa in Comillas, a jewel of modernist architecture.Read more
IGLESIA DEL SANTÍSIMO CRISTO
Church preserving the foundations of an ancient Roman domus in Santander.Read more
SARDINERO AND MAGDALENA BEACHES
Read moreThey are an absolute cleanliness and quite large so that you do not have to suffer from summer overpopulation.
PARQUE NACIONAL DE LOS PICOS DE EUROPA
Read moreThe Picos de Europa, located between the provinces of Asturias, León and Cantabria in Spain, are an impressive mountain range. Culminating at Torre de Cerredo at an altitude of 2,649 metres, they offer breathtaking scenery. The trails are rugged, but also offer picturesque walks. It is important to note that some areas of the massif may be subject to access restrictions due to repair work or regulations to avoid built-up areas. It is therefore advisable to find out about access conditions before planning a visit. For lovers of nature and grandiose landscapes, Picos de Europa is a must-see on any trip to Spain. It's advisable to find out in advance how best to plan your visit.