Santander

Santander is the capital of Cantabria and a major port city on the Bay of Biscay, situated on the southern shore of the Santander bay where the Pas and Pisueña rivers drain into the Atlantic. The city occupies a long peninsula between the bay to the south and the open sea to the north, its waterfront promenade and beach strip among its most distinctive features.

Much of the historic centre was destroyed in a catastrophic fire in February 1941, which consumed thousands of buildings in the old town. The rebuilt city has a mid-twentieth-century character, though the Romanesque crypt of the cathedral of La Asunción and the adjacent cloisters survived and remain among the oldest structures in the city. The Palacio de la Magdalena on the bay headland, former summer residence of the Spanish royal family, is another defining landmark.

For pilgrims on the Camino del Norte, Santander is the largest city between Bilbao and Oviedo, accessible by ferry from Somo or Pontejos, and a major waypoint with full services.