El Palacio de la Magdalena

Annaleigh:

I went to this park. I played for a little while. It was fun. I love the park. It had rides.

Autumn:

So Annaleigh slept for 14 hours last night. I actually had to wake her up at 9:40, which is crazy because she rarely sleeps past 6:30 at home. I think her clock is all messed up, but I’m not complaining because I needed extra sleep, too.

We finally got out of the apartment at around 11:15 and walked to the taxi stand down the street to catch a cab to Peninsula de la Magdalena (a beautiful park that juts out onto a peninsula between the bay and the sea). Our taxi driver was very chatty and wanted to talk politics the whole way. It was one of the few times that I was actually grateful for Annaleigh’s limited knowledge of Spanish, because he had a very colorful vocabulary. I even learned a new insult after he explained it to me.

In any case, our driver brought us to the peninsula and dropped us off right next to the playground that Annaleigh discussed above. She was impressed by the variety of equipment (some of which she referred to as "rides" because it was so different from our playgrounds back home) and spent a long time happily exploring and climbing. We then set off to find the slide that went down to one of the beaches, only to learn that it had recently being removed because construction was being done on that side of the park. Thus, we walked down to the beaches like everyone else.

Our first beach stop was Playa de la Magdalena. It was pretty quiet, with only a few sunbathers, a group doing a photshoot, a couple of lifeguards who thought they were on Baywatch, and an older gentleman who felt the need to swim in his tighty whities. Annaleigh happily played in the sand and surf for a solid hour and a half while I lounged lazily on a towel and proffered water and snacks when she requested them.

Eventually, we were both in the mood for something more substantial, so we looked for a pretty spot to enjoy our picnic lunch.

After eating, we continued our stroll around the peninsula. As we climbed a hill, we came across a gorgeous view of an island lighthouse.

And then came the moment I had been waiting for, the destination that I was most excited to visit in all of Santander...el Palacio de la Magdalena!

Allow me to explain. You see, I watch a lot of television series from Spain. A lot. Some would say too much, although I think it is just the right amount. One of my favorites was Gran Hotel. Below is a photo of Yon González and Amaia Salamanca, who played Julio and Alicia respectively:

Here is a photo of me in the Exact. Same. Spot.

I have officially been to Gran Hotel! Okay, technically it’s not a hotel; it was built as King Alfonso XIIII’s summer palace, and today it is used as part of a university. We also didn’t get to go inside because it is only open to the public on the weekends. Still, I had a fabulous time walking around the grounds where Julio and Alicia fell in love, whilst making my bemused seven-year-old take pictures of me.

After I was done geeking out, we walked around to the back of the hotel palace, where the views were breathtaking. I tried to capture the beauty here, but the photos don’t do it justice.

We played and explored there for about an hour, until the need for a bathroom brought us back down the other side of the peninsula. We paused to admire the boat replicas:

Then Annaleigh requested another visit to the playground, after which we stopped by the peninsula’s "zoo". I put zoo in quotation marks because there were only three exhibits, but all of the enclosures were built into the cove and used as many of the natural resources as possible. They also were not over-croweded, and the animals seemed healthy and in good care. We were there for the penguin feeding, and it was amusing to watch the penguins yell at the seagulls who tried to steal their sardines.

By this point, we both decided that it was time to cash in on my promise of ice cream-eating and postcard-writing on the beach. I was not crazy about my scoop of turrón ice cream because I was expecting vanilla ice cream with bits of turrón mixed in, but instead got caramel-flavored ice cream with not a candy bit in sight. Annaleigh, on the other hand, had zero issues with her chocolate cone.

Instead of returning to Playa de la Magdalena, we decided to try out Playa del Camello, named as such because the giant rocks surging out of the sand look like the back of a camel.

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After postcards and ice cream, Annaleigh somehow found the energy to play for another 40 minutes or so, but she was expectantly punchy by the time we started our walk to the nearest taxi stand. Following the (much quieter) cab ride home, she didn’t even want to go out for dinner, instead requesting what we had left over in the apartment, some of which she ate on her beloved balcony. Once ready for bed, it took her literally 30 seconds to fall asleep. I have never seen anything like it. I guess nothing tires a kid out like running her around in the seaside air for a solid eight hours. I’m pretty exhausted myself. Still, I couldn’t have asked for a better day.