Tuesday 24 May 2022
Searching on the map the previous night for things to do on a possibly wet day we discovered that we were about 30 minutes’ drive from the Cueva de el Castillo, a series of caves containing the oldest known cave paintings in Spain. With a little help from reception in deciphering some of the fields in the on-line booking form we were all set for our 11:45 tour.
As the rain poured down while we were waiting to start the tour we decided that this was, indeed, a good time for a visit. A party of 12 of us went through the steel door guarding the way to the inner sanctum and we stopped here and there while the guide gave a lengthy explanation in Spanish, the a briefer, but still informative speech, in English. The cave paintings, ranging from 40,000 to about 10,000 years old were incredible. The earliest were hand tracings and others animal paintings. The animal lines were amazing, with the artist frequently using the line of a rock as part of the illustration.
As we surfaced we found that the rain had cleared and the sun was out. Back at Santillana we set about executing our master plan designed to get us into the Spanish eating timetable. We found a very nice tourist restaurant, La Huerta del Indiano, with a terrace table and a heater pointing at our table, and settled down for our 15:00 lunch. The 3-course lunch at €19.50 was perfect – fish croquettes, grilled hake, dessert, and a regional white wine. The extra glass of wine was only €2.50. Our master plan appeared to be working – a short nap after the meal gave us renewed vigour to visit a museum and have a stroll around the town, before an early night. A brief pause for hot chocolate in the hotel bar boosted our sugar levels to an exceptionally high level. Expecting a glass of warm milk with a couple a spoonfuls of Green & Blacks stirred in, we were served with a small cup half full of liquid chocolate – tasty but a little sickly.