Beaches and valleys and caves, oh my!

A few more photos from my first weekend in Santander. You can see the lovely beaches (with a football game going on in the wet sand), the greenery that is around, and the stunning blue-green waters of the coast out to the Bay of Cantabria. Plus the stadium that is shaped like a whale (though it looks to me more like a pear on its side....) with a nice park beside it.

Sunday, Ruben and I had a lazy day and got up late, then walked around Aguilar de Campoo a bit before exploring more of the surrounding area. We first went and saw some of the dams that are plentiful in the nearby region,

and then to another area further away, waaayyy up in the mountains where there was a beautiful viewpoint (mirador de valcabado) on the edge of Castilla y Leon that offers a stunning look over the Cantabrian valley.

Near this lookout point, there was an attraction called Cueva de los Franceses (Cave of the French), so named because it used to be the burial ground of many French soldiers during the War of Independence. Unfortunately there aren't any photos because they weren't permitted, but we got a private tour (only two of us signed up) and the guy gave us lots of info. I don't remember a ton and some of it was technical and beyond my grasp of vocab, but it was interesting nonetheless. Really cool stalactite (on the ceiling, "holding tight") and stalagmite (on the ground, "climbing with all their might") formations, and some joining to form beautiful columns. Of course people have a lot of imagination, so within the cave we saw a joker, a "sculpture" of two people embracing and kissing, a pig and a resemblance of the Virgin Mary. Hey, Spain is a very very Catholic country. :)

Monday morning, Ruben dropped me off in a town called Reinosa where I took the train into Santander. He set off back home to Benavente after a weekend of being my guide and chauffeur. :)

And so I headed to the school and began orientation. That night, I moved into my new place (the old tenant had just moved out so no sofa for me!) and began the official start of my time here in Santander.