It's Cantabria Day, a provincial holiday, so another quiet day in the city. Today we are going to Puente Viesgo, where we will visit the caves on Monte El Castillo. The Altamira Caves to the west of Santander have more caves paintings, but access is restricted and there is only a replica of the caves that you can visit. At El Castillo, we'll be able to enter the actual caves. Puente Viesgo is only a short bus ride away from Santander. From the bus stop, a sign points us to the trail PR-S17, about 20min. up to the caves.
There are 2 caves to visit, Las Monedas and El Castillo. Las Monedas contains interesting rock formations with a few paintings. El Castillo holds more of the cave paintings. We're not allowed to take pictures in the cave and the tour is only in Spanish, so we try our best to make out some information. These caves look very different than the ones in Sardinia. The roof of the cave is more layered, looks like crumbled pieces of paper. Stalactites drip down from cracks in the rock.
The cave paintings are so clear, it's hard to believe it's about 13,000 - 14,500 yrs. BP. There is a clear drawing of a star in Las Monedas and various horses and bison in both caves. There are also many hand prints in El Castillo. My conclusion after coming out of the caves...cave man draws better than me!! For even further proof, check out the documentary "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" about the Chauvet caves in France.
We head back to Santander and have dinner at Dias Desur, a very nice fusion tapas bar. We order patatas bravas (just to see how another place does it), a Mac foie mini burger, chicken tikka masala skewer, a shrimp tortilla, and a pitcher of sangria.
The sauces for the patatas bravas is excellent, we can't get enough. It's not spicy, but a very tasty homemade ketchup. Everything is very good. I could lounge here eating all day.
