Rural Spain Properties

AREA GUIDES >> RURAL PROPERTIES IN CANTABRIA

At a glance
photoCantabria is one of a number of holiday destinations for discerning Spaniards shunning the hordes on the southern coasts. Particularly popular with madrileños is its capital Santander, a stylish resort with excellent beaches. Cantabria boasts a number of pretty resorts and fishing ports, including Castro, Urdiales and Comillas.

This one-province region has a little of everything – mountains for skiing and trekking, sandy coves for bathing and lush forests for peaceful walks.

Properties
Cantabria is similar to Asturias in the variety of properties on offer. It’s combination of coastline and mountain landscapes will not disappoint. There is plenty to choose from if your looking a classic casona (a traditional large house) or for an old ruin to get your teeth into.

Airports
Cantabria has an international airport at Santander. The region is also well served by the airports in Oviedo, Valladolid, Bilbao, Vitoria and Zaragoza. It also has a direct ferry link to Plymouth in the UK.

Climate
Overall, Cantabria enjoys moderate temperatures all year round. In Santander, for instance, the average temperature in the coldest month of February is around 9 degrees while it is 20 degrees in the hottest month of August.

There is more contrast between in temperatures further inland, with colder winters and hotter summers and in the highest areas of the region there are longer winters and frequent snowfall.

Historic value
photoCantabria has some of the earliest art still in existence, including cave drawings and engravings in prehistoric caves at Puente Viesgo and at Altamira. The art is among the oldest in Europe, around 10,000 years old.

The region also has a fine collection of Pre-Romanesque buildings, the style which flourished in the 8th-10th centuries in and around Oviedo.

Culture
To find out more about the area’s prehistoric art, head to Santander’s Provincial Museum of Prehistory. To learn more about the region’s flora and fauna, visit the Natural Museum of Cantabria, which is in the village Carrejo, housed in the 18th-century Palacio de Gomez de la Torre, also known as Palacio de Pedro de Ygareda.

Gaudi fans should head to the resort Comillas where Gaudí designed some of the buildings. The pretty village of Santillana is also well worth a visit to see its splendid collection of 15th to 18th-century mansions clustered around its main square.

Food and drink
Fish and seafood are staples on the Cantabrian menu, particularly sardines, anchovies and tuna fish. Meat is also excellent from Reinosa and Solares.

Vegetables and pulses are also commonly used in dishes such as cocido montañés (a stew made of pork, kidney beans and cabbage) and cocido lebaniego (a stew made of meat, chick peas and cabbage).

Cantabria has no shortage of desserts, either. There are sobaos (sponge cakes flavoured with lemon and annis or rum), quesadas pasiegos (cakes with sheep’s cheese), corbatas de Unquera (a type of long pastries, literally called “Unquera ties”) and pantortillas de Reinosa (pastry discs topped with caramelised sugar).

As with most regions, Cantabria have a good selection of cheeses, ranging from the blue cheese Picón, to the smoked cheese Aliva and Las Garmillas and the Cantabrian Camembert.

photoNatural beauty
Cantabria is one of three regions straddled by the stunning National Park Picos de Europa, named after the Peaks of Europe, a jagged mountain range which offers excellent hiking and climbing opportunities. The 64,660-hectare park combines deep winding gorges cut through the rocks with green valleys of orchards and grazing dairy herds.

Cantabria also has six other areas which have been declared nature reserves including the Parque Natural de las Dunas de Liencres, the most striking dune range in northern Spain.