The Way of St. James #61

I went back to Santander today. After a good breakfast, I left the hotel in Viveda and went for the train.

The train from Barreda took me through stations with names familiar from the last two day: Requejada, Mogro, Boo de Pielagos, Bezana, and finally Santander itself. I decided to have a look around the city, get a good lunch, and then make my way to my pension for the night.

I decided to visit some churches first, and the very first one was the Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón. The church is richly decorated.

Then I went over to the cathedral. While architecturally impressive, it is somehow less well decorated. While there, I also got my pilgrim stamp. It is a more complex process in Santander than in Bilbao, with the office that has the stamp hidden behind the chapel crypt, and it required several enquiries to find it.

Then it was time to have a walkabout in the city. Santander is a city of many pleasant and impressive streetscapes. Few of the buildings are very old, but they are generally pleasant in appearance, and blend together well.

Santander also has interesting indoor markets. The Mercado del Este is a small market of shops and cafés. But for real colour, it would be hard to beat the Mercado de La Esperanza. The upper floor sells mainly meat and cheese, but also some fruit and vegetables, while downstairs is almost all fish.

And after walking around for a while, I had worked up sufficient appetite for a good lunch. Then it was time to go to my hotel. Right now, I am preparing for my flight tomorrow to bring me back to Basel.

This marks the end of this stage of the Camino. It was one with many highlights, but unfortunately somewhat marred by bad weather. But I live in hope, and I plan to return next spring and start again where I stopped this time. And that plan means finishing the journey that I started documenting here back in 2017.

But before I finish, the step count for today was a moderate 18,495.