Santander in July,

[Mona]

Hello ,

Want to go to Santander , in July for 10 days. 

I hope to enrol in a school for a week of classes. 

Has anybody any advice , as I have never been to this part of Spain before. 

Also is it worth staying a day or two in Bilbao  , on the way there? 

Many Thanks.

--
... MONA.......

[John Zumsteg]

Bilbao is definitely worth a day or two. We were there not long after the Guggenheim opened and found Bilbao an interesting city, and the museum one of the most beautiful buildings we've ever seen. We spent hours just walking around it, seeing it from different perspectives. We returned four years later and discovered that the museum had sparked a re-birth of the downtown area - excellent restaurants and bars and stores and a very lively feel. We very much enjoyed Bilbao and will return.

John

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John Zumsteg

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[Jude Nazareth]

Ditto on Bilbao. Also, San Sebastian is not too far away either.

I did a law school summer abroad program in Santander in 2005 at the Universidad de Cantabria and rented a flat not too far from the lighthouse.

Beautiful city and people (as with the rest of the country).

What type of advice do you want?

[Mona Hickey Crowe]

Any thing at is helpful . 

Restaurants , sites  hotels etc. 

You stayed in an apartment ,,was it central .? 

Did the college organize this for you? 

What shouldmI not miss seeing. I presume it is a safe place or are there any areas one should be wary of? 

As I mentioned my whole trip will only be  for 10 days , so I need to pack in as much as I can. 

Many thanks . Jude, 

Mona. 

monad...@gmail.com

Sent from my iPad 

[Mona Hickey Crowe]

Many thanks John, 

Will,definitely stay a day  two  on my tríp . 

Can you recommend any hotels , restaurants? 

Mona. 

monad...@gmail.com

Sent from my iPad 

[John Zumsteg]

We stayed at the Carlton, which is 5-star hotel. Although on the pricey side, it was good value for money - especially for a 5-star - and in a great location. Don't know what it is now, but probably worth a look.

John

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John Zumsteg

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[Jude Nazareth]

I stayed at a private flat that I had somehow found on the internet (some 7 years ago). It was close to a bus stop that was a 5-10 ride to school. My friends did not have the best experiences at the places the school suggested that year since they were meant for traveling students although they were a little closer to school.

I got there early before my program and stayed one night in a pensiones, which was reasonably cheap and by the downtown park area near the water. It may be a budget option to a hotel since I would imagine that you would probably want to spend most of your time enjoying the locale. It is definitely better than a hostel. You may want to do a google search to try to reserve a place beforehand, but when I was there there were always vacancies at pensiones.

I basically found everything through my Spain travel guide book that was similar to Lonely Planet. It listed some of the popular sights, eats, accommodations, and happenings. It even had some common Spanish phrases which came in handy since I did not speak one lick of it.

Santander is not very big, so you could do a lot of walking everywhere with help of the bus or cab if needed. I would suggest that you rent a bike for your short stay if possible.

It seemed like a safe place when I was there. Guys and girls would stumble back to their places alone without incident near the schools. If I remember correctly, there may have been a red light district, but I do not recall going there.

Since I was a super poor graduate student back then (even more poor than a college student), I did not eat out much. I did eat a lot of bocadillos and tapas while I was there with vino tinto since that always seemed cheaper than soda or even bottled water. I can't remember where I we ate, but the fresh fish and locally grown beef were good when we actually did eat out.

My trek to Santander was by way of bus from Madrid. There is a small Santander airport as well as a Bilbao airport.  There are a bunch of small discount airlines like Ryan Air, Easy Jet, etc that  made travel easy and cheap.

For places to see and things to do, check out an updated Spain travel book at your local book store. I only used it initially when I got there for the main places to go and sights to see, but after I usually just explored.

Actually, I just did a wiki search and all the main things to see are listed:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santander,_Cantabria

Enjoy! I hope to visit Spain again soon!

Jude

[Mona]

Jude , 

Many thanks for all that information. 

I am actually flying into Bilbao, as Aer lingus flies there . Yes I know that Ryan air goes directly to Santander , but  there can be hassle with this airline. From what I have read it is only an hour away by bus. I do want to see Bilbao, so will put that in at the end of my trip.

As I intend to go to a language school for classes,mornings will be taken up. 

No matter what books you read, it is always nice to speak to somebody who has first hand knowledge of the place. 

As I said , I usually go to Salamanca , but in July , it would just be too hot. Anyway, it is a good idea to get used to the different accents. WhenI went to Andaulcia a few years ago I thought they were speaking 'double dutch' the first few days, until I realized they never finish their words. 

So now I need to do a met check , re weather , like Ireland , I think it rains a lot . 

Will look up that link on Cantabria , Santander and print it off. 

Again, muchas gracias por tu ayuda, 

Mona

... MONA.......