Update
25/04/06
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Cantabria is located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its weather is humid and mild, neither very hot nor very cold. The coastline has more than one hundred beaches of different size. The longest is the one of Laredo, more than five kilometers, the smallest ones don't have more than a few meters. The Cantabric Mountains marks its orography and gives to the country its characteristic landscape of mountains and valleys that goes down as they get near the sea. The tallest and rough part of the Cantabric Mountains is the area called “Picos de Europa” in the southwest of the country. There it is the tallest peak of the country, called “Peña Viejo”, 2.613 meters high.
Both the coastline and the mountains are perfectly ready to receive any kind of people wanting to make sightseeing. There are many kinds of accommodations and the visitor will always find the traditional kindness of the local people.
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Beach of Somo |
Beach of Cóbreces |
Beach of Sardinero 1ª |
Beach of Sardinero 2ª |
Picos de Europa |
Vega entre los Picos |
Teleférico de Fuente Dé |
Picos de Europa |
Beach of Miengo |
Beach of Suances |
Beach of Mogro |
Beach of Umbreda |
Emerging river of Ebro |
Zone of Camaleño |
Teleférico en la zona baja |
Zone of mountains |
Board and lodging in Cantabria |
Cantabria has a wide net of accommodations all over its territory both in the coastline and in the interior. There are several “Paradores” (owned by the government), a number of luxurious hotels and other medium and ordinary hotels. There is also a network of hostels, boarding houses, and inns spread over all the country.
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Casona Rural en Alceda |
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Casona Rural en la Vega de Pas |
Parador de Fuente Dé |
Parador Gil Blas |
Parador de Limpias |
Parador de Santillana |
Parks and natural reserves in Cantabria |
In Cantabria the visitor can see the Parks of “Picos de Europa”, “Saja-Besaya”, “Oyambre”, “Dunas de Liencres”, “Peña Cabarga”, “Cabárceno” and Natural Reserve of the “Marshlands of Santoña y Noja”. The two last ones, not really known, deserve a commentary.
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Nature Park of “Cabárceno”
Located 17 kilometers far from Santander, this Park is part of a biggest park: the Park of “Peña Cabarga” which has an extension of 25,8 square kilometers and include almost all the mountains that surround the bay of Santander. Its main feature consists in its karstic landscape with wonderful and magic formations of stones.
“Cabarceno” was created in 1989 as the key element in the project to recover an area previously used for iron mining in that place. The mines were already operated by the romans or even before as proved by the archeological vestiges found there. During the XVII, XVIII and XIX centuries the mining supplied iron mineral for the royal artillery factories of Liérganes and La Canada. Later on and till its closing they supplied mineral for the steel mills of Bilbao.
Nowadays “Cabarceno” is a zoo but a little bit different. In Cabarceno the animals are in some situation of freedom in 19 big premises which size goes from 4 to 35 Ha . They accommodate 54 different species. Among them the visitor will see bears, deers, roe deers, chamoises, wild boars, all of them coming from Cantabria. But the visitor will be able to watch more exotic species like elephants, hippopotamus, tigers, lions, ostrichs and many more. The accommodation of the animals allow the visitor to watch the animals in an atmosphere much more natural and interact more with them. The park has more than 17 kilometers of trails. The visitors can go around walking or by car according to their own availability of strength and time.
Beside the visitor will find in the Park special exhibitions of exotic birds and birds of prey, of reptiles with more than 40 species and a botanic trail with 64 different kind of trees representing the more than four thousand species present in the park. The visitor will be able also to fish trouts in the lakes inside the park.
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Natural Reserve of the Marshlands of Santoña and Noja
These marshlands constitute the most important of the Northern Coast of Spain of its kind and they are among the most important in Spain. They are a natural area of great biological diversity with more than three thousand hectares of marshlands and beaches. That area is the best zone for the reproduction, wintering period and migration of many different kind of birds, mostly different kind of ducks coming from north and center Europe, together with seagull and other birds from the coastline. Besides, the Reserve include a very interesting representation of the typical oak grove in the mountains of Buciero, Brusco and Montehano and also wonderful cliffs in the coastline.
The Natural Reserve has an area a little bigger than 4.300 hectares . The area has three parts corresponding to each of the marshlands that form the Reserve.
The marshlands are formed by the mouth of Ason and Clarin rivers. Each forms respectively the “rías” of Limpias and Rada. After a while both join the waters and form the “ría” of Preto. This “ría” connects with the channels of Ano, Argoños and Boo and finds its way to the see through the channel formed between the “Puntal of Laredo” and San Martin beach of Santoña.
General data.
Autonomous Community: Cantabria
Total area: 4.131,69 hectares
The Reserve area belongs to these municipalities: Laredo, Argoños, Limpias, Arnuero, Noja, Bárcena de Cicero, Santoña, Colindres, Voto, and Escalate.
Percentage of the Reserve belonging to each municipality: Laredo 4,27%, Argoños 4,58%, Limpias 2,25%, Arnuero 2,38%, Noja 5,33%, Bárcena de Cicero 11,41%, Santoña 19,6%, Colindres 3,57%, Voto 14,7%, and Escalante 11,67%.
The land belongs to the State (64,6%) and to individuals (35,4%).
The Reserve is also protected for the following Laws and Rules: In 1994 was chosen as Special Area for Bird Protection (Guideline 79/409/CEE, April 2). In the same year was included by the Spanish government (B.O.E. nº 273, 15/11/1994) in the list of International Agreement of Ramsay in order to protect the marshlands of international signification. The Reserve belongs also to the Important Places for the Community and the Network “Natura 2000" (Guideline 92/43/CEE, May 21), oriented to the preservation of the natural habitats. The law 6/1992 (March 27) declares the marshlands of Santoña and Noja Natural Reserve (BOE nº 77, 30/03/1992). The Reserve is also affected by the “Plan de Ordenación de los Recursos Naturales de las Marismas de Santoña, Victoria y Joyel” approved by Decree 34/97, May 5, and published in the “Boletín Oficial de Cantabria” nº 97, May 15. |
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