May 12, 2011

Today began in Santander and ended in Oviedo.  We left Santander around noon and drove to the Altamira Cave Site.  It is the place where prehistoric art drawings, among the oldest known to man (20,000 BC) were discovered at the end of the nineteenth century.  So many people visited the caves between the 1950s and 1970s that the Spanish government decided to close the site since there was so much damage due to the exposure to new bacteria and human contact.  They recreated a Neocave, which is an exact replica, where visitors can now see the drawings in the same locations, with the same colors, etc.  We happened upon a small group of senior citizens being guided by a young woman who was obviously an expert on the cave’s history and art.  One of the visitors told me, she is not a guide, she is my daughter, but she studied art history and that is why she knows so much about this site.  We just hung out with them and had a fantastic small group-guided tour.  They were from Cantabria and knew the area very well.  When we told them our next stop was sight-seeing in Comillas, they recommended another place, El Soplado, which is an old mining sight where there is a an unbelievable display of stalactites and stalagmites. 

We did stop in Comillas for a nice lunch on the beach, although it was too cold to enjoy any beach weather.  The waitress was excited about our decision to visit El Soplado.  We figured it was probably worth skipping the “more touristy” Comillas visit.  We got to El Soplado after about 2 hours of driving through mountainous roads.  The drive and the time were well worth the effort to get there.  You take a train down into a mine shaft, which happened to cut into the 20 km long natural cave and the sight is unbelievable.  We bought a DVD in the gift shop because there is no photography allowed and words cannot possibly describe its magnificence.  One of the ladies from the morning said, at the end of the day, you will say that I was right about going to El Soplado instead of Comillas.  Conchita was right.  It was an unplanned but wonderful surprise.

We left El Soplado and started to head to Oviedo.  After much frustration with the traffic and directions we received in Oviedo, we ended up at the wrong hotel and finally made it to the right one after 10 PM.  The garage was full so we had to leave the car a block away and walk to the hotel.  We went out to dinner afterwards, yea, like 10:30 to the “Sidreria” street where all the restaurants serve cider…spiked, of course.  It was  teeming with locals, but again, worth the time and effort to experience the night life.  We kept thinking how much the Spaniards are on Mario’s schedule.  We wonder how anyone can get up and go to work the next day after having such a heavy dinner at midnight…and do this several times a week.