My washing line project is drawing to a close, I have reached the end of the line and this is my penultimate picture.
A washing line on a balcony in Barcena Mayor in Cantabria in Northern Spain….
It is a Challenge, Feel Free to join in…
When it comes to taking pictures I like doors, statues, balconies and washing lines, Kim on the other hand likes people pictures so I thought I might share a few of them with you.
This one was taken in the Spanish village of Carmona in Cantabria…
Carmona is a delightfully quaint village with tiny cobbled streets with wild flower verges and where sunlight spilled into the dark corners of the workshops where traditional wood carvers were busy making customary products of cattle yokes, sandals, clogs, canes, and cutlery which, I am told, are distinctive to rural Cantabria.
I say that in a slightly cynical way because I got the impression that there isn’t really a great deal of tradition here and that whilst a man was busy whittling wood in an open barn for the benefit of the tourists there was probably a factory somewhere full of modern drills and lathes where the products for sale were being produced for sale to the coach loads of visitors who visit daily.
Click on an image to scroll through the Gallery…
I am sharing with you some of my favourite places in Spain; I started with Santillana del Mar in Cantabria and close by are the mountain villages of Bárcena Mayor and Carmona.
After an hour or so we left the main road and took a minor route into the mountains where the fields became smaller, the grass became greener and the sky seemed a great deal closer as we drove past verges of wild flowers sheltering under the dry stone walls, soaring buzzards and occasional herds of the horses of Cantabria as we climbed high into the clouds, way above the snow line with strips of ice clinging defiantly to the crevices where the sun didn’t reach.
Bárcena Mayor is said to be the oldest town in Cantabria and was declared a historic-artistic site in 1979. Because of this designation it is now one of the most visited places in Cantabria as tour buses fill the road and the edge of town car park but it was quiet enough today and we walked through the pretty medieval stone streets and houses with wooden balconies and washing lines in a hanging mist which added to the character and the charm of the place.
Click on an image to scroll through the Gallery…
“And thank God for home-sweet things, a green and friendly hill,
And red geraniums aflame upon my window sill.” – Martha Haskell Clark
Two pictures taken in the village of Bárcena Mayor in Cantabria in the far north of Spain. In Green Spain in the rain and the mist the geraniums are not quite so extravagant as in sun-burnt south, they do not bloom so freely but they have a rustic elegance nevertheless!
Posted in Arts and Crafts, Cantabria, Europe, History, Literature, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Bárcena Mayor, Cantabria, Culture, Life, Spain Doors, Spain Windows, Window Boxes
Hallstatt, which claims to be the prettiest village in Austria
Santillana del Mar, “Le plus joli village d’Espagne” according to Jean Paul Satre
Skofia Loka, Slovenia
Buchs, Switzerland
Schiltach in the Black Forest, Germany
Primosten, Croatia
Burano, Venice, Italy
Bárcena Mayor, Cantabria, Spain
Which one would you choose?
Posted in Austria, Croatia, Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Natural Environment, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Travel
Tagged Bárcena Mayor, Buchs Switzerland, Burano, Hallstatt, Primosten, Santillana del Mar, Schiltach Black Forest, Venice, Škofja Loka
Not long after leaving Burgos and as we travelled north the landscape began to change. Only gradually at first and then more rapidly as we approached the snow capped Cantabrian Mountains.
The endless brown prairies of Castilla y León started to slowly give way to enclosed green fields of Cantabria and now there were ridges and escarpments each one playing host to a clutch of wind turbines. There was livestock in the fields as we began to climb, gently at first and then more dramatically into the mountains.
Click on an image to scroll through the Gallery…
Posted in Cantabria, Europe, History, Natural Environment, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Bárcena Mayor, Burgos, Cantabria, Cantabrian Mountains, Carmona, Castilla y Leon, Santillana del Mar
Have Bag, Will Travel 