Visit date: April 30, 2016, overnight around 7:00 p.m.
The second parador of this trip.
This time we visited Parador 3 times in total.
There is a parador in Santillana del Mar, which is chosen as one of the most beautiful villages in Spain and also has a World Heritage Site nearby. This was the second stay at the parador after the previous day.
The location is in front of the Plaza Mayor, the central square of Santillana del Mar. It has all the tourist attractions and the location of the parador is convenient, therefore, I think it is the best place to visit. It seems to be very popular for that reason, so you must make a reservation as soon as possible. We also booked it relatively earlier than the other hotels, and you can book it on Booking.com.
By the way, there is a private parking lot for Parador guests. It was also facing this Plaza Mayor. However, we could not find this when we arrived, so we parked on the street behind the Plaza Mayor. Private parking can be paid or free on a case by case basis. The day before at the Parador in Lerma it was 10 euros.
For a general description of « paradors », please see my previous post.
15% OFF for restaurants per consecutive night
もちろんこの日の夕食もパラドールで地元の料理をいただきました。実はなんと食事が15%OFFになります。前日、レルマのパラドールでこのような割引券をいただいていたからです。
Enjoy local food
We also had a local Cantabrian meal at this parador.
By the way, it was often seen in restaurants all over Spain, when you order the menu of the day (set meal), water and wine are included by default. This may be a system not found in France or Italy. It’s quite a bargain.
In Lerma the day before, we had a wine made in the vineyard of the parador, but here in Santillana del Mar, we had the wine that came with this set. It was certainly lighter and less robust than the wine in Lerma the day before, but I think it was still tasty enough.
Well, here is the menu for the day. At the entrance of the Parador, the menu of the restaurant for that day was posted. This is a photo of it. If I don’t take a picture of the menu, I’ll forget what I ate.
I ordered the « Menu Degustation Santillana Gil Blas ».
The appetizers were an assortment of Cantabrian cheeses and pintxos with anchovies and tomatoes, also from Cantabria, on top.
The main course is fish and meat. This is also a white fish from Cantabria and the meat is beef.
The dessert was mousse au chocolat, which is a familiar French dish.
Compared to the previous day’s Parma, which was quite hearty and the wine was rich and full-bodied, I honestly felt that this was still a bit on the light side. The taste might have been better the day before, too. I think the Cantabrian cheese was a new discovery.
とあまりよい評価ではなかったものの、それでも十分おいしくいただきお腹いっぱい。その後は部屋に戻ってシャワーを浴びて就寝。良い滞在になったことまちがいなしです。
