A week in northern Spain

Trip ratings
Recommended days	7
Budget	£
Difficulty	Easy

Background

This was a week in northern Spain as a *gulp* family holiday, taken in August! Pretty much the height of masochism! We chose northern Spain as it was quieter than the south and slightly cooler too, in theory.

This holiday was booked it as a package through Brittany Ferries and sailed from Portsmouth to Santander. I don’t travel well on ferries so the crossing wasn’t good for me but everyone else seemed to enjoy it. This holiday was in my pre-note taking days so info is very sparse and the photos are very low tech!

Accommodation

We stayed in a self catering villa and it was fantastic for the kids. We had our own pool so they loved it but for us it was a little isolated. There was one small cafe in the village where we were but everything else involved driving and the internet was a fond memory. Still, for less than £1800 for a week for 6 people in the summer holidays, it was good value.

The villa had plenty of space and a lovely conservatory/sun room. It was very private and very quiet (before we arrived with three teenage girls!).

Santillana del Mar

The first place we visited was Santillana del Mar, a very pretty place and also nearby so a good introduction to driving in the area. The place is famous for some of the best examples of prehistoric cave art (you can imagine how thrilled the kids were!) although you can only view replicas to avoid the originals being damaged.

Other than the caves and zoo (that we didn’t visit), the other main attraction of the town was the 12th century church of Colegiata de Santa Juliana. This was lovely to explore and being in the centre of town, had plenty of refreshment options once we’d finished looking around.

Comillas

Another day trip was the town of Comillas. This town has some fantastic architecture, most famously the house designed by Gaudi, and a wonderful beach. Most of the buildings are relatively modern, nineteenth and early twentieth century, but they are still fascinating to visit.

Museo del Jurasico de Asturias

After forcing the kids to view art noveau and medieval buildings, strangely not their thing, the next day trip was theirs. They chose the Jurassic Coast dinosaur museum. It was quite a drive but also gave us ideas for our next day trip into the mountains.

The museum was fantastic – huge area of dinosaur exhibits that kept us all entertained for a few hours. There was a good cafe too which is pretty unusual in Spain, it’s a revenue stream they often miss out on.

Indianos Museum

We couldn’t let the kids have everything their own way so on our return journey we stopped at the Emigration Museum, an archive of Spanish settlers in South America. This was a surprisingly interesting way to spend an hour, even the kids were happily occupied!

Picos de Europa

After seeing the mountains yesterday we took this day to explore the national Park of Picos de Europa. The kids were particularly excited when they found out about the cable car!

Deb stayed at home to sunbathe so it was just the kids, Mum and I. The cable car had quite a queue by the time we got there and was a joyous experience for my vertigo but we survived and the walks from the arrival point were stupendous. Obviously, as we had the kids, we didn’t actually do any walking but the potential was there!

Ponferrada

After a day with the kids the next day Deb and I decided to visit the Templar castle at Ponferrada. We drove on some lovely roads through wooded and hilly countryside. The Knights Templar are obviously one of those larger than life organisations but they played a major role in Spain, with their successor groups, in freeing the country from the Moors.

The castle was hugely impressive from the outside. We had a quick walk around and then had lunch in a nearby square. We came out and then discovered the castle was shut from 1 til 4 PM (I think) for a siesta! That was rather frustrating!

Leon

As we had an unexpected amount of spare time, on the way back to the villa we stopped in Leon to visit the cathedral. Santa María de León is an amazing 13th century building with lots of original stained glass windows. We almost had the place to ourselves when we arrived so it was a great visit. The drive home in the rain showers at night wasn’t much fun though.

San Vicente de la Barquera

For our penultimate visit, we settled on the little port of San Vicente de la Barquera. This was a very pretty place with a medieval castle and some impressive old bridges and churches. There was also a profusion of gelato shops, most welcome!

Bilbao

After packing up and leaving the villa we headed to Bilbao for a quick visit while we waited for the ferry. Natalya and Thea had chosen the Guggenheim, so with some misgivings we parked up and made our way there.

To be fair, the area outside the museum was excellent and very pleasant to walk around and there was a nice cafe. The interior was a different matter and you either love it or hate it. Guess which side of that fence I was on?! It was, as they say, an experience!

So, northern Spain. I have to say, fantastic! Far greener than the south and without the Moorish influence, there is a huge amount of regional pride, lots of pretty towns to visit and a less ‘touristy’ experience.