El Faro

As you may have realised, I am not really writing these posts in any particular order. Just a heads up, if I say ‘today’ or ‘yesterday’, the even may not have actually taken place today or yesterday but work with me … it’s much easier.

Today, I had a most wonderful excursion to the lighthouse – el faro – of Santander. It was a last minute arrangement, initially suggested by Maelle who was thinking of taking a walk.  Thanks to our Whatsapp group – entitled ‘borrachas’ – everything was arranged pretty quickly and soon we were having a group outing.

Lea and I hopped on the bus to Piquio (a lovely area of Santander where Maelle is living) using our newly purchased “TUS" cards. These cards are the equivalent of Oyster cards: they can only be used in Santander and they give you a considerable discount on bus fares. Seriously, with these cards a bus journey is only around 66 cents!

We then waited for the others – Maelle and Arina – in the ‘jardines de Piquio’. These gardens are very pretty and are filled with colourful flowers and many different types of trees. The gardens sit, overlooking the beaches and the sea so, it’s a really nice place to just hang out and take a selfie or two. It is particularly lovely if it is a sunny day, which it was when Lea and I went there. However, it was also very windy too (as you may note, looking at some of the pictures).

We followed a trail that led us along the beaches and up some cliffs, leading us all the way to the lighthouse that you can, supposedly, see from over 50 miles away. Along the way, we were sure to take some breaks, wanting to build up energy as well taking advantage of photo opps. There is always a good photo opp in Santander as there is always a stunning backdrop.

For instance, there are the ‘lovelocks’ that you can find if you follow the trail to the lighthouse. The lovelocks come from a serbian tale that dates back to WWI - so Wikipedia tells me. Supposedly, a teacher (Nada) feel in love with an officer (Relija) in the Serbian town of Vrnjacka Banja. They got engaged, but when he went to fight in Greece, Relija fell in love with a women from Corfu. Subsequently the engangement was called off, and Nada dies from a broken heart. Following this tragic state of affairs, women from the aforementioned town (I´m not writing it out again), decided to protect their own loved ones. They took locks with names written on them, and would attach them to the bridge where Nada and Relija once met. 

The crazed of lovelocks only took off in Western Europe (most famously in Paris) in the noughties although I couldn´t tell you why. Now I’m not really a romantic person but I have to admit, there is something charming about seeing these locks against the landscape of the green cliffs and the blue seas here in Santander. 

When we finally got to the lighthouse, we were sure to pause in the café bar and have a drink or two as well as having a bite to eat. We had previously been told to try the raciones of fried squid at the lighthouse. This fried squid is supposed to be some of the best in Santander for not a bad price. And it was good. 

Arina and I decided to split a plate as we were both feeling greedy and wanted to have the ‘tortilla bocadillo’ too. I have come to really love these ‘bocadillos’ in particular. It’s just carbs sandwiched in more carbs which is the best thing ever!

The lighthouse was a great place to visit and another place on my list of places to visit that I could tick off. It was incredibly peaceful and on the way back, we ran into some other lang assistant who have lived here for a while. They were able to point out places of interest and some extra beautiful buildings that I have now added to my list. It is getting longer every day: each time I tick one off, I add two more.

But at least ‘el faro’ is done  ^_^

Hasta Luego.