Midlist Writer: Settling in Santander

Thursday 6 October 2011

Settling in Santander

No, this blog isn't totally dead. While I'm mostly posting on my Civil War blog these days I'll occasionally put things up here too. If you've been following me on Gadling, you know I've moved from Madrid and am now living in Santander on Spain's northern coast.

I've been here two weeks now and am already settling in. I've been out with some of the locals and am beginning to meet people, plus I and my family got some wonderful sunny days on the beach like you see in the Wikimedia Commons picture above. Sadly, as I write this it's overcast and the street outside is damp from this morning's rain. Summer is now over.

Ah well. At least there's lots of good hiking and caving in the region. There's a fair amount of nightlife in this city as well, although it doesn't come close to what Madrid has to offer. In my few nights out so far I've already discovered the fascist cafe, complete with photos of General Franco and the symbol for the Falange proudly displayed behind the bar. I walked in and walked right back out. I also discovered an anarchist cafe with stickers and posters from the CNT. In the 1930s, these two groups were at each other's throats. Now they just go to different bars.

The anarchist bar was a bit dead for a midnight on a Saturday. I did get to meet three guys from Senegal. Santander has a lot of African immigrants who work the fishing boats in this region. I didn't get to talk to these guys much because they were engrossed in a football game. Reminds me of my time in Ethiopia!

So far I've been enjoying the move. People are much friendlier than in Madrid and being a much smaller town it's easier to meet people. The beach was great and now I need to find enough activities to get me through Santander's long, rainy winter. A good place to be a writer!

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