Costa Verde

When we left the Picos de Europa, we drove down the Desfiladero de la Hermida until we reached the Atlantic at San Vicente de la Barquera following the coast eastwards from there, looking for a place near Playa de Oyambre to stay over night.
As it was a sunny Sunday we had no luck, everywhere it was crowded.
Tired and hungry we stopped at Comillas and ate something before driving on until Santillana del Mar, which has a new caravan parking. (43.386438, -4.101616)

Caravan Parking Santillana del Mar

We strolled through this beautiful medieval town, which has a lot of charm, despite the many tourists visiting.

Santillana del Mar

Santillana del Mar

Palacio de Velarde

The next morning, we left Santillana del Mar and drove just a little east to the Nacional Park de las Dunes de Liencres. The park is around an estuary with golden dunes and beaches. We took a walk along the coast and then went to the beach for a little while. (43.449418, -3.962893)

NP de las Dunes de Liencres

We left the now full parking and continued east to Santander, where we used a nice caravan parking to empty the tanks. (43.4721 , -3.8035) We didn’t feel like exploring a city so we just stopped at a supermarket before leaving again and drove up Peña Cabarga just behind Santander (569m), from where we had a good view over the city and the estuary, even if it was quite misty. (43.378894, -3.778691)

Caravan parking Santander

Peña Cabarga

Santander from above

We decided to find a camping to enjoy some outdoor living and also do our washing. We found a very nice one in Laredo called Camping Playa El Regatón (43.411474, -3.453130). We just managed to fit our tall camper under their trees. The Camping is directly at the river and not far from the long beach at the seaside.

At Camping Playa El Regatón

Sunset at the river

The next day we worked, using the good internet connection, washed our stuff, cleaned the camper and made a tour with the bikes along the beach, into town and back – and didn’t take one picture 🙁

We left in the afternoon, after we had finally decided where to go next. We turned west, leaving the Basque Country for another trip. Instead we put the Altamira Museum into the navigator, in the hope that we had good chances late in the afternoon to get a ticket. When we came there, just before 7 pm, it was raining and a long queue of people was waiting in front of the building. Before we finally reached the desk, we were informed, that there are no more tickets and we can come and queue tomorrow again. Quite annoyed we left and drove into Santillana del Mar, where we stayed another night and went into town again. Trying to find the ultimate cheese plate had us eating at two restaurants the same night.

Santillana del Mar

Restaurante La Huerta del Indiano

The next morning, we drove to Comillas where we stopped first at the ruins of a church, which is now the cemetery.

Guardian Angel

by Catalan sculptor Josep Llimona

Cemetery overlooking the sea

We then drove into town to find a parking closer to the centre (43.384953, -4.293305). The Palacio de Sobrellano was closed due to a film shooting, so we walked through town first, before we visited El Capricho built by Gaudi.

Palacio de Sobrellano

Beautiful Villa

Centre of Comillas

Comillas

Gaudi at it’s best: Villa El Capricho, built in 1883-85 for Máximo Díaz de Quijan, an Indiano, an Asturian who come to money overseas and was the brother-in-law to the first Marqués de Comillas.

Villa El Capricho by Gaudi

Gaudi and Cordy admiring his work

The next stop was at Playa de Oyambre, where we went to the beautiful long beach and enjoyed it as long as the sun was shining. (43.3905 , -4.3335)

Parking just above Playa de Oyambre

After lunch we drove to Colombres, where we found a good parking area not far from Villa Quinta de Guadeloupe – a big house build 1906 by Iñigo Noriega, an Indiano = an Asturian who left very young and travelled to Mexico, where he came to money. It now houses the Archivo de Indianos, a museum documenting the destiny of many Asturianos who tried to make their living in different countries of South America. (43.373325, -4.542504)

Villa Quinta de Guadeloupe – Colombres


Villa Quinta de Guadeloupe

At the coast, we stopped at the very small village of Buelna and walked to Playa Cobiheru, a beach which is not directly at the coast. (No picture as it was low tide and no water there) We walked along the coast and back to our Cochecito. (43.392191, -4.618350)

Playa de Buelna

Coast near Buelna

It was getting late and we drove on to Llanes, which has an official caravan parking. Getting there, we were very disappointed, not a very nice place fenced in like a hen-coop next to a truck parking and the main street into Llanes with a lot of traffic. We kept driving until we reached a parking in front of a beach where we stayed the night. (43.4403 , -4.8715)

Parking behind the Beach next to Rio Bedón

The next morning, we soon reached the area of the Bufones de Pria and found a parking, from where we walked in direction of the coast and found the Bufones, which didn’t shoot water into the air but made noises like a huge dragon breathing underneath the rocks. Through natural chimneys made of limestone the water shoots up during high tide and heavy sea. (43.453637, -4.969716)


When the sea is rough the bufones spit water (picture of a picture)

On we went to Ribadesella. It has a caravan parking which we used later to empty our tanks again (43.4602 , -5.0539). But first we walked into town and found a nice restaurant through Happy Cow: Restaurante La Talamera, where we ate very well. They offer different Asturian cheese plates and a lot more.
The Sella river is famous for rafting and many companies offer tours. There is also an interesting cave: Cueva Tito Bustillo – next available ticket in one month. If you want to go there, make an online reservation in time!

Caravan parking in Ribadesella

Hórreo

After stocking up at a supermarket for the oncoming days, we made a detour to Cuevas. The road leads trough a natural cave, which we found so great, we did it twice. If the residents of this village found it so amusing, I’m not sure. (43.437001, -5.073885)