On Sunday searching for a campsite (or even a place to park for the night) we drove to one of the highlighted towns on our tour. It was billed as one of the most beautiful villages in Spain.

Santillana Del Mar is very beautiful. It is situated between Gijón and Bilbao and not on the sea so I don’t know why Mar (the sea) is in its name. I will be adding it to the map… below.

The entire village looks like it’s from a medieval film set. Every building, every wall is made of stone and of course the roads are cobblestoned. Our guide says the entire town is a museum but people live here too.

And you can stay in the houses, we saw people arriving with their luggage. There are also a few very attractive (from the outside and barred to non-residents) 5 star hotels.

We were tired from the driving and searching so we took it easy, bought ice cream and walked around soaking up the atmosphere of an outdoor museum.

Wandering around did make me wonder how this place was able to stay untouched over the centuries. It could be the saint buried in the church…Santa Juliana is said to have imprisoned the devil.