Dave's Weekends

Santander is very hilly;  the best thing about the city is the many outdoor escalators and travelators to get you up (not down) the hills.   There must be 20 or 30 of them, sometimes in long chains working their way up.  They are not (only) for the tourists;  sometimes they just go up to nondescript housing quarters.  One set leads from the University of Cantabria at the bottom of the hill, via about 4 escalators and 2 travelators, to a hospital at the top of the hill.  Unlike the UK or even Germany, none of them were broken. They are marked as black lines on the free map of Santander available at the tourist office. There are also lifts, and a long disused railway tunnel, to help you move between levels and neighbourhoods, but it was really the escalators I enjoyed the most. At the top of the long set of escalators that start on Calle Florida, you can find a basic bar called the Doble A where they do a Vermuth de la Casa for 2 euros. Scenic Escalator Popular Escalator Escalator - alwa

The tram network is extensive but confusing, and I couldn't find an up to date map ahead of travel, nor is there one at the tram-stops. There is however an A3 size timetable for each tram at the stop, which lists the stations served. When I saw a tram coming, I quickly looked at the relevant timetable, cross-referenced with another (somewhat out of date) network map I had printed and made a decision whether to board or not. The ticket machines at each tram stop are good. They do English, they give change and they sell the whole range of tickets, including the 1, 2 or 3 day ticket (better than Gdansk, where it was tricky to find a place selling the 2 or 3 day ticket). If you prefer to buy a few single tickets, and use "as and when" across your trip, buy at any machine early in your trip and simply stamp one each time you board a bus or tram. You can also wave a debit card at a machine on board; if at first you fail, try a different machine elsewhere on the bus - I saw