Where's Bertie? He's at a municipal Aire by the university in Santander (exact location: 43.47218, -3.80276)
Weather: Overcast start and end to the day, but with some sunshine in the middle. Temperature mid-teens (warmer in the sun).
After last Wednesday's failed shopping trip due to the public holiday, and with very limited scope for shopping since (we've only passed one small 'Express' style of supermarket), grocery shopping was very much top of the agenda this morning.
That was accomplished in Santander, on our way to the Aire, and once Bertie's fridge had been transformed from its bare state, we made our way here.
The next priority was right up there with the mundanity of grocery shopping: laundry.
A striking building, just north of the Aire, that looks like it's an events venue
We followed Google Maps directions to get us to the nearest laundrette, but on our way back, following our noses, discovered that Google doesn't know some walking cut-throughs, where steps can be taken to short-cut the road. Yes, steps, because it was quite steeply uphill all the way to the laundrette.
Looking down on the Aire. In front of Bertie (the other side of the road) is a wetland. On the right of the snap is the events venue shown in the first photo above.
Back at Bertie in time for a late lunch, we then had plenty of the day left for a walk into town, which Google Maps told me involved reascending the same hill as we had encountered on our way to the laundrette. With Santander being a port, it didn't take a genius to work out that we were going to descend the other side and then have to come back over it on our return. It's significant enough that the city has installed moving walkways on quite a few of the steeper pavements.
A group of people encountered down at the port
Our Rough Guide says of Santander that, away from the beaches there's not much to see or do (I wonder what there is to see or do on the beaches?!), but there have been previous occurences of our guidebook having been scathing of places that we have enjoyed, so we went into the city with open minds. Either we didn't hit the right areas, or the Rough Guide has it right this time. The only thing we found of interest was watching tonight's Brittany Ferry, bound for Portsmouth, being loaded with lots of motorhomes, a couple of lorries and a few cars.
The jury is still out, but we may change our return travel plans to involve this very vessel.
The one thing that was on the agenda during our stay here was a visit to the Museo de Bellas Artes, which (of course) is not open on a Monday. The intention had been to go tomorrow, then grab lunch in town. However, based on today's excursion we are no longer enthused to do that. A look at the local bit of coast is looking like a more appealing option.
Weather: Overcast start and end to the day, but with some sunshine in the middle. Temperature mid-teens (warmer in the sun).
After last Wednesday's failed shopping trip due to the public holiday, and with very limited scope for shopping since (we've only passed one small 'Express' style of supermarket), grocery shopping was very much top of the agenda this morning.
That was accomplished in Santander, on our way to the Aire, and once Bertie's fridge had been transformed from its bare state, we made our way here.
The next priority was right up there with the mundanity of grocery shopping: laundry.
A striking building, just north of the Aire, that looks like it's an events venue
We followed Google Maps directions to get us to the nearest laundrette, but on our way back, following our noses, discovered that Google doesn't know some walking cut-throughs, where steps can be taken to short-cut the road. Yes, steps, because it was quite steeply uphill all the way to the laundrette.
Looking down on the Aire. In front of Bertie (the other side of the road) is a wetland. On the right of the snap is the events venue shown in the first photo above.
Back at Bertie in time for a late lunch, we then had plenty of the day left for a walk into town, which Google Maps told me involved reascending the same hill as we had encountered on our way to the laundrette. With Santander being a port, it didn't take a genius to work out that we were going to descend the other side and then have to come back over it on our return. It's significant enough that the city has installed moving walkways on quite a few of the steeper pavements.
A group of people encountered down at the port
Our Rough Guide says of Santander that, away from the beaches there's not much to see or do (I wonder what there is to see or do on the beaches?!), but there have been previous occurences of our guidebook having been scathing of places that we have enjoyed, so we went into the city with open minds. Either we didn't hit the right areas, or the Rough Guide has it right this time. The only thing we found of interest was watching tonight's Brittany Ferry, bound for Portsmouth, being loaded with lots of motorhomes, a couple of lorries and a few cars.
The jury is still out, but we may change our return travel plans to involve this very vessel.
The one thing that was on the agenda during our stay here was a visit to the Museo de Bellas Artes, which (of course) is not open on a Monday. The intention had been to go tomorrow, then grab lunch in town. However, based on today's excursion we are no longer enthused to do that. A look at the local bit of coast is looking like a more appealing option.
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