Motorway was the only practical choice for today's journey, minor roads would have added over one and quarter hours and looked to be tedious. For a motorway, the journey was actually very interesting, on the left side at least! After crossing the Spanish boarder, to our right was a series of large conurbations dominated by masses of high-rise apartment blocks. However, on the left was a background of mountains and in the foreground almost alpine-style farmland with cows, complete with bells, in the fields.
Our objective was Camping Santillana in Santillana del Mar, not far from Santander. The site is close to the world famous Altamira Cave and we arrived in time to be able to visit them before thy closed at 18:00. This cave is similar to those in the Vezere Valley (see entries for 12th and 13th December 2007) in that it has a large number of prehistoric paintings. It was actually discovered in 1876 by Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, before the major discoveries in Southern France and because of the quality of the paintings, the experts of the time refused to accept that they were genuine. Although French experts wrote to Sanz de Sautuola to confirm the authenticity of the paintings, it was only two years after his death in 1888 that public recognition was forthcoming. Sanz de Sautuola was careful to protect the cave and this continued after his death but, as with Lascaux in Southern France, the huge number of tourists visiting the caves in recent times lead to a serious deterioration in the paintings. As a result, the caves were closed to all but a few tourists in 1982 and a new museum and replica of part of the caves was built. It was these that we visited (for the remarkably low cost of €2.40 each) and we started with a guided tour of the replica paintings. There were only four of us on the tour, which was only given in Spanish. I know that I can't expect guides in English (try to get a guide in Spanish when visiting a British site!) but just a few words, such as they gave us in Lascaux and Font de Gaume in France, would have made the visit so much more interesting. Fortunately, we learned a great deal from the French visits, so we were not at a total loss. The other couple in the tour were Argentinian and spoke very good English. He offered to translate when we needed it but the guide went at great speed without taking a breath, so that wasn't really practical. There was a very good reconstruction of the cave entrance showing the layers of occupation together with the animal bones, shells and other finds associated with the prehistoric (approx. 16,500 – 12,000 B.C.) occupation. As in France, the interior of the cave was not lived in, it was used only for ritual purposes. The replica paintings were very realistic, consisting mainly of bison, deer and horses. There was less superimposition of images than in the Vezere Valley but the use of the natural contours, cracks and holes (e.g. for eyes) of the ceiling was very pronounced. The museum was also very good although, on balance, I preferred the combination of Lascaux, Font de Gaume (there is nothing like the real thing!) and the museum in the Vezere Valley.
The campsite was very well positioned just on the edge of Santillana and has lovely views but the motorhome facilities are not good. All of the pitches are sloping and to get on to them you have to drive over a raised kerb. This means that you have to reverse over the kerb when your driving wheels are on the grass / mud and although it was only slightly damp, this proved to be difficult with much wheel spinning. When we checked around the site, it was obvious that everyone had the same problem!
Photos: Sunset from Camping Santillana.
Our objective was Camping Santillana in Santillana del Mar, not far from Santander. The site is close to the world famous Altamira Cave and we arrived in time to be able to visit them before thy closed at 18:00. This cave is similar to those in the Vezere Valley (see entries for 12th and 13th December 2007) in that it has a large number of prehistoric paintings. It was actually discovered in 1876 by Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, before the major discoveries in Southern France and because of the quality of the paintings, the experts of the time refused to accept that they were genuine. Although French experts wrote to Sanz de Sautuola to confirm the authenticity of the paintings, it was only two years after his death in 1888 that public recognition was forthcoming. Sanz de Sautuola was careful to protect the cave and this continued after his death but, as with Lascaux in Southern France, the huge number of tourists visiting the caves in recent times lead to a serious deterioration in the paintings. As a result, the caves were closed to all but a few tourists in 1982 and a new museum and replica of part of the caves was built. It was these that we visited (for the remarkably low cost of €2.40 each) and we started with a guided tour of the replica paintings. There were only four of us on the tour, which was only given in Spanish. I know that I can't expect guides in English (try to get a guide in Spanish when visiting a British site!) but just a few words, such as they gave us in Lascaux and Font de Gaume in France, would have made the visit so much more interesting. Fortunately, we learned a great deal from the French visits, so we were not at a total loss. The other couple in the tour were Argentinian and spoke very good English. He offered to translate when we needed it but the guide went at great speed without taking a breath, so that wasn't really practical. There was a very good reconstruction of the cave entrance showing the layers of occupation together with the animal bones, shells and other finds associated with the prehistoric (approx. 16,500 – 12,000 B.C.) occupation. As in France, the interior of the cave was not lived in, it was used only for ritual purposes. The replica paintings were very realistic, consisting mainly of bison, deer and horses. There was less superimposition of images than in the Vezere Valley but the use of the natural contours, cracks and holes (e.g. for eyes) of the ceiling was very pronounced. The museum was also very good although, on balance, I preferred the combination of Lascaux, Font de Gaume (there is nothing like the real thing!) and the museum in the Vezere Valley.
The campsite was very well positioned just on the edge of Santillana and has lovely views but the motorhome facilities are not good. All of the pitches are sloping and to get on to them you have to drive over a raised kerb. This means that you have to reverse over the kerb when your driving wheels are on the grass / mud and although it was only slightly damp, this proved to be difficult with much wheel spinning. When we checked around the site, it was obvious that everyone had the same problem!
Photos: Sunset from Camping Santillana.
No comments:
Post a Comment