Page 118 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Spain

116  NOR THERN SP AIN

housed in the restored
Convento de Regina Coeli,
east of the town centre, and
has a collection of painted
carvings of religious figures.
E Museo Diocesano
El Cruce. Tel 942 84 03 17.
Open Tue–Sun. &

i Puente Viesgo
Cantabria. * 2,800. @ n Calle
Manuel Pérez Mazo 2, 942 59 81 05
(town hall). _ La Perolá (20 Jan),
San Miguel (28–29 Sep).
One of the many paintings of bison at Altamira
This spa village is best known
y Cuevas de of 15th­ to 18th­century stone for El Monte Castillo, a complex
Altamira houses survives largely intact. of caves dotted around the
The town grew up around limestone hills above the town.
Cantabria. Tel 942 81 80 05. @ San­ a monastery, which was an Decor ated by prehistoric man,
tillana del Mar. Caves: Closed to the important pilgrimage centre, it is thought the late Palaeolithic
public, check website for details. the Romanesque La Colegiata. cave dwellers used the deep
Museum: Open 9:30am–6pm Tue–Sat The church houses the tomb interior as a sanctuary. They left
(to 8pm May–Oct), 9:30am–3pm Sun. of the local early medieval drawings of horses, bison and
Closed 1 & 6 Jan, 1 May, 28 Jun, 24, martyr St Juliana, and contains other animals, and some 50
25 & 31 Dec. & advance booking
advisable, 902 24 24 24 (free every a 17th­century painted reredos hand prints. The colours used
Sat from 2pm & Sun). 7 8 and a carved south door. In its to create the images were
∑ museodealtamira.mcu.es lovely cloisters, vivid bib lical made from minerals in the cave.
scenes have been sculpted
These caves contain on the capitals. Environs
some of the world’s On the town’s two main The lush Pas valley, to the
finest examples of cobbled streets there are southeast, is home to trans­
prehistoric art. The houses built by local humant dairy farmers, the
earliest engravings and noblemen. These have Pasiegos. In the main town of
drawings, discovered in either fine wooden Vega de Pas, you can buy two
1879, date back to galleries or iron balconies, Pasiego specialities – sobaos,
around 30,000 BC and coats of arms or sponge cakes, and quesadas,
(see p53). Public inlaid into their a sweet which is made from milk,
entry to the stone façades. In butter and eggs. In Villacarriedo
caves is very the past, farmers there is a handsome 18th­
restricted, but used the open century mansion, with two
the on­site Carved figure of Christ in the ground floors as Baroque façades of carved
museum contains Convento de Regina Coeli byres for stabling stone hiding a medieval tower.
a replica of the their cattle.
caves. Similar sites that remain In the enchanting Plaza T El Monte Castillo
open to the public are found at Mayor, in the centre of town, Puente Viesgo. Tel 942 59 84 25.
nearby Puente Viesgo, Ribadesella is a mansion­turned­parador. Open Wed–Sun (mid­Jun–mid­Sep:
(see p111) in Asturias and at The Museo Diocesano is Tue–Sun; Nov–Feb: am only). & ^
Nerja (see p489) in Andalucía.

u Santillana
del Mar
Cantabria. * 4,100. @ n Calle
Jesus Otero 20, 942 81 88 12. _ Santa
Juliana (28 Jun), San Roque (16 Aug).
∑ santillana-del-mar.com

Set just inland, belying its
name, this town is one of the
prettiest in Spain. Its ensemble Main façade of La Colegiata in Santillana del Mar
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp562–3 and pp583–4

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