Horizons - Santander

Again I'm posting some specially selected favourites from a trip. This one to Santander in Cantabria, northern Spain. I was there for a week, as the first official part to my year abroad, doing a course in Gestión Cultural at the Universidad Internacional Menendez Pelayo. At first a little anxious about being in a university course in a language that isn't my own, I soon realised that understanding every single word wasn't the object and that it was more about the actual experiencia to be had. I met a huge mixture of interesting people and learnt a lot while being able to explore the city in any free time I had.

It begins, an arrow pointing the right direction.

Puerto Chico is the harbour area where everyone goes for a walk, leading from the industrial port (where you can catch a ferry to England) to the yacht club and marina. It's where the society really come together in my opinion, the old snoozing on the benches at siesta time and the young (like me just below) precariously placed on the edge where it is worryingly easy to fall in.

As with the photo above of the Real Club Maritimo, Santander's very changeable weather made for some great 'photo ops'. Here are some of the ones that I took one morning when I accidently missed the bus to the uni. It was at 8am, you can't blame me and whatismore classes only started at 9am, but I did make the most of this hour when Santander was a ghost town to see the Península de la Magdalena and its views towards the horizon.

Most days I went to the beach both in the lunch hour and after class attempting to tan a little bit so as not to look so deathly pale next to the Spaniards. I love the colours you get with the seaside, building layers up until the horizon where the sky takes over.

At the end of the course we had an última cena at Caballerizas on the Península de la Magdalena. I would definitely recommend it if you find yourself in the city. Rabas (de calamar) are the best. The evening light was perfect for one last shot.