Cantabria – Comillas and the El Capricho

Comillas is a small seaside town in Cantabria. The place is famous for its gorgeous beach, it offers a wide range of outdoor activities and has many buildings with important architecture. It also has one thing that brought me all the way here: one of the three buildings built from the plans of the master architect Antonio Gaudí that exist outside of Catalonia, the El Capricho.

El Capricho

This Arabesque building is an early work of Gaudi’s and is contemporary with Casa Vicens (see my blog about Casa Vicens here). He wasn’t actually the one who supervised the construction but directed the project from Barcelona, the on-site architect was Cristóbal Cascante.

As always, Gaudí wanted to adapt the new house to the characteristics of its master. In this case the commissioner was Máximo Díaz de Quijano, who was known for his love of plants. The house has a U shape that in the middle sheltered a greenhouse for the exotic plants the owner brought from far away places.

The outside of the house is decorated with naked bricks and sunflower tiles. An interesting feature is the tower that stands out in Comillas’ skyline.

Máximo’s other favourite pastime was music. This element is echoed in many places in the house, even the name which means ‘whim’ or ‘caprice’, suggests a playful tune. You can find decorations connected to music such as the sparrow on an organ or the ‘musical bench-balcony’.

The building from the inside.

It belongs to the story that the commissioner didn’t get the chance to live in his new summer chalet as he died of an illness before. Now the building stands empty and tourists visit it every day but it can also be hired for events.

El Cemeterio

By the time we finished and dropped our stuff in the hotel it was very late so we didn’t have time to look around in Comillas but the Cemetery (not the official one, of course) was on our way to the restaurant so we had a quick look inside.

The cemetery is situated in a hill in front of the sea therefore the view is great from its walls. Amongst the beautiful decorations are the ruins of an ancient gothic church. We didn’t stay long as it was getting dark but the place is well worth visiting.

And this was all we could see of Comillas. There are so much more things waiting to be discovered here, it truly is a lovely place. I have to add it to my already long list of  ‘places I have to visit again’.  

Cantabria – Santillana del Mar

Cantabria is a region that lies between Asturias and the Basque Country. On our way home from San Sebastian we stopped here to look at two places. We didn’t have much time, in fact we only had one hour to look around in Santillana del Mar. The reason I wanted to stop here is because I was told that this is the prettiest Cantabrian village. Although I didn’t have the chance to see many Cantabrian villages I am inclined to believe this statement.

This picturesque village is a whole open air museum with its winding, cobbled streets and yellow sandstone buildings. It feels like walking around in a medieval village, especially because it can only be visited on foot. Here every single house is a monument.

The place is often called ‘The Town of Three Lies’ as it is nothing to do with a saint (santa), nor flat (llana) and is not even at the sea (del mar), as the name suggests. The truth is that the name originates from the town’s church, Santa Juliana (Santa Llana), whose remains can be visited in the Colegiata, which is a Romanesque church and former monastery. The historical town developed around this church and its lovely cloister, although the majority of the houses were built between the 14^th and the 17^th century.

I was wondering around in a daze looking from one gorgeous medieval building to another. It is a very special feeling – as long as you can ignore the fact that on the ground floor of every single building is a souvenir shop that tries to sell you everything you can think of. Unfortunately the place has become a tourist trap and the amount of tourists really detracts from the experience.

Nevertheless I am very happy that I was able to visit the town even for such a short time. Santillana del Mar is definitely the highlight of the whole Cantabrian region.