Santillana to Comillas

In the morning, we headed for the medieval Romanesque church of the Collegiata de Santa Juliana, dating to the 12th century, when it was one of the most powerful monasteries of Spain, attracting many noble families who built their houses in Santillana del Mar. It was still locked, and some pilgrims were just packing their things after sleeping over night in the arcades. We walked through the deserted cobbled streets and out of town, joining up with a Dutchman who had been walking for the last year and a half. We were passed by quite a few pilgrims, joining up with two from previous nights to check out an allegedly open pilgrim breakfast place, which despite extensive signposts to lure us from the main way, was closed. From there we continued on up a hill to a large church with a view of the ocean, with stone seats on the outside where we rested to eat an apple. Then downhill again, to discover other fellow pilgrims sitting outside a bar, where we joined them for tuna tortilla, hamburger and egg sandwiches and coffee for second breakfast. At Cobreces, we made the mistake of following the marked way steeply down and then steeply up, rather than following the main road round! The Abadia_de_Santa_Maria_de_Viaceli was closed to the public, as was the Parroquia de San Pedro Ad Vincula. We decided to take a detour to a chocolate bun shop and then down to the beach to eat our buns to the sound of breaking waves. This made us decide to ignore the marked way and follow the cliff top to Comillas, where we climbed up the hill to the hostel and to our relief got two beds in a private room, later to be joined by a German lady.
Comillas has many notable medieval and baroque buildings, and was a summer resort for the Spanish nobility at the end of the 19th century. There are several Art Nouveau buildings, including El Capricho by Gaudí. We walked down to the square with the church and bought some frozen sea food paella, which together with some rice and a bottle of wine made a good supper. We chatted for a while with a predominantly German speaking group and then retired early to bed.