Engel (and Brownell) Blog: Santander

Back to the coast. The train ride from Bilbao to Santander was scenic ... though Bronson thought the girls down the aisle were a bit more scenic so he put on a show for them. It worked. They goggled all over him - giggling and taking photos with their cell phones. Bronson's sisters wanted to crawl into a hole.

After checking into our rooms in Santander, we went straight to the beach. Matthew and the kids went swimming (and jumping).

I went to explore the Magdalena peninsula and palace and some of the other beaches.

Santander is a loooooong city and the most affordable places to stay are a billion miles from the beach. So, by the time we got back to our neighborhood, we were hungry! We found an Italian restaurant. It was a little expensive, but we figured the portions would be HUGE so we ordered 2 pizzas and a big salad entrée. The portions weren't as big as we expected. Actually, we have never been so hungry after eating dinner as we were that night. So, we stopped for another dinner before going home.

The next day, we went back to the beaches. Of course, I didn't want to take the same way so I scoped out an alternative route that would include some green areas. The tourist map is not a topographical map, so how was I to know that I chose the route with the steepest incline??

At every turn there was a steep hill or endless stairs.

I forbade the kids to complain though I suspected that they were cursing me under their breath. Well, at least one of them must have been praying because just around another corner, there was the biggest outside escalator/elevator that we have ever seen in our lives. From the bottom, we could hardly see the top. We thought maybe it went to heaven.

We joined an elderly woman on her daily 14 km walk (which is about as far as it was from our hotel to the beach). She had to urge us on to keep up with her. She pointed out all the historical markers and views along the way.