On the morning of Dec. 10, after our visit to the A’letelier Du Chocolate in Bayonne, we headed back to Spain and our next destination Santillana del Mar. It is a small village about 275 km west of Bayonne near the Atlantic coast that has been inhabited since at least the 9th century. It is also the perfect place to stay when visiting the Caves of Altamira, a UNESCO world heritage site.

We had just enough time after getting settled in our room to drive to the coast and see the Ermita de Santa Justa before it got dark. It was a little chapel built into the stone cliff just feet from the pounding surf of the Cantabrian Sea.

The next day we visited the Museum of Altamira. The cave art here is sometimes described as the Sistine Chapel of prehistoric cave art. They don’t let visitors into the cave anymore but have created an exact replica, the Neocueva, to better preserve the original cave. The museum had a large collection of prehistoric objects and did a wonderful job of explaining the art in the cave.

Later we drove to Liencres Dunes Natural Park where we hiked through a pine forest and then a eucalyptus forest before ending on a cliff overlooking the Cantabrian Sea. We could see people surfing off in the distance. In the photo at the top if you look carefully you can see the surfers in the water. It seemed a little cool for that to me!

The next day we made a loop to the south and drove through the Picos de Europa mountain range. We had driven through these mountains in the summer of 2017 and wanted to see more of them. On the way there was a beautifully steep gorge that we drove through  – the desafiladero de Hermida. We went as far south as the Embalse de Riaño, a reservoir, where we turned northwest and drove back to the coast at Cudillero. This little fishing village in the Principality of Asturias was founded by the Vikings according to legend. It was built in the shape of an amphitheater. We stayed at a charming little hotel and were the only guests. That evening Roy enjoyed a plate of octopus along with some local cider while I got the mixed salad which came with a jar of tuna that had been canned in this very town. I think it may have been the best canned tuna I have ever had!