Parador Cervera de Pisuerga; Parador Santillana del Mar; Parador Limpias Spain.

The Pisuerga is a remote, wild, thinly populated region in the northern part of the province of Palencia, on the southern flank of the Picos de Europa range. The parador, a newbuild that resembles an oversize hunting lodge, is, on the interior, a mix of massive stone walls and huge wooden beams. It sits on a ridge in the midst of a forrested area, overlooking the Picos from the front and a distant reservoir from the back. The views on both sides are spectacular, even though you are somewhat farther from the mountains than at Fuente De. This is a very peaceful place in which to rest up from some hard days of touring, the grounds encompass some very pleasant footpaths.

Santillana del Mar is a small Cantabrian town, little more than a village, perched atop a hillside near the Mar Caqntabrico. The place was an important pilgrimage center in the middle ages, being the burial place of St Juliana (Santillana). As a result a number of nobiliar mansions, all bearing the nobiliar coats of arms of their owners was built there in the fifteenth century so that these gentlemen might reside there in comfort once they had finished their pilgimmage. These all still stand, along with a considerable number of smaller houses of the period and, having been conscientiously restored, give a museum like impression of what a late medieval Spanish town looked like. The twelfth century church has some very fine Romanesque carvings. The parador, built around an inner courtyard, is actually two separate paradors. Depending on the time of the year, one or the other or both might be open. The original one is a newbuild constructed to resemble the aforesaid mansions; the newer one, surnamed Gil Blas, occupies a seventeenth century nobiliar mansion. Both are well furnished and comfortable. A short drive will take you to the beach, but the main attraction here is undoubtedly the cave of Altamira. This is one of the genuine wonders of the world, containing marvelous paintings dating from 15,000 to 12,000 B.C. The cave is called the Sistine chapel of Prehistory, when the numerous bison on its ceiling are suddenly lit up by the guide a frisson of awe inevitably goes through the visitors. But be sure to reserve your tickets on line at least a couple of months ahead of your visit, entries to the cave are limited to a certain number each day and are snapped up fast.

Limpias is a small Cantabrian fishing village. The parador is a summer palace built for Alfonso XII in the nineteenth century, in the summers the court resided here. There are pleasant gardens surrounding the structure, there's a tennis court and several beaches are within easy reach.