Map of The Cantabrian Sea and the North of Spain

The Cantabrian is "green" Spain, light years removed from the Mediterranean or Andausia and a totally different experience for visitors. Looking north onto the Cantabrian Sea and the Bay of Biscay and shaped to the south by the Cantabrian Mountains, its climate is temperate, with abundant rainfall, and its peoples are traditionally hardy and proud.

Cantabrian Regions of Spain
In the far west, lies the region of Galicia (provinces La Coruña (or A Coruña), Pontevedra, Orense and Lugo, main cities the provincial capitals, plus Vigo and the pilgrimage destination Santiago de Compostela), a rugged country with a rugged coastline, its own language, and a host of Celtic, even Gaelic traditions. And like Ireland or Scotland, Galicia is a land of sailors, fishermen, wanderers, explorers and emigrants, the latter so much so that in many parts of Central and South America, 'Gallego' is the more common synonym for 'Spaniard.'

East of Galicia, the Principality of Asturias is mountainous and impenetrable, the country where the Visigoths defeated by the Moorish invaders in the eighth century were able to find refuge and began to rebuild their kingdoms, those of León and Castile, the germ of the reconquista. Its main cities are Oviedo, Gijón and Avilés, the latter two historically industrial centres of considerable importance, Asturias having been a mining country, but visitors may prefer its fishing ports, towns and villages like Ribadesella, Llanes or Cudillera, or mountain villages (the Cantabrian Mountains rise to their greatest heights in the Picos de Europa) like Cangas de Onis or the near mythological Covadanga.

After Asturias comes Cantabria itself, lush-green and rolling near the sea, but where the high mountains are so close to the sea that the rivers, though small, are fast enough to cut gorges. Cantabria's only cities of note are its capital, the port of Santander, and the former fishing town of Laredo, now a summer resort, but its mountain towns and villages like Potes in the Picos de Europa, or its fishing ports like Castro Urdiales, are equally attractive to visitors.

The last Cantabrian region is the lovely Basque Country, where traditional sports include manly pursuits like rock hurling, but society is traditionally matriarchal. Its native language, Euskera, is so unlike other European languages and difficult for Spanish speakers that it has been considered the devil's invention. Its capital is Vitoria-Gasteiz, but its most emblematic town is Guernica, bombed nearly out of existence by the Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War, as is so graphically represented in Picasso's famous painting. The Basque provinces are Vizcaya (capital Bilbao, traditionally a heavily industrial city), from where the Bay of Biscay gets its name; Guipúzcoa, the capital of which, Donostia-San Sebastian, is one of the most gracious, nay, regal resorts in Europe, and the mountainous Álava, capital Vitoria.

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