“El Capricho”, the jewel of Comillas (Cantabria)

Dear friends:

If you have the opportunity to visit Cantabria, you'll possible be fascinated by the beauty of its natural sites. A coastline where you can admire how the Cantabric cordillera forms rough escarpments or beaches where the strength of the see allows the most fearless to practice surfing. If it's the mountains that appeal to you, the Picos de Europa and the Sierras of Cantabria will allow you to pass through natural environments in which some of the most authentic rural centers of Cantabric Coast are hidden. Santander, its capital, overshadows a marvelous bay and during an important part of the year it brings into being an active cultural life. If you go to Santillana del Mar, the museum and the “Neocave” of Altamira will give you the opportunity to know and admire the replica of one of the first art illustrations of humankind, a museum which installations as from its inauguration have become the “Mecca” of the cultural tourism moving towards this zone. And in the middle of these precious and almost countless attractions, a small jewel is waiting for you at the occidental coast, in Comillas. A small palace that reawakens Islamic and medieval art and that will take you to the magic universe of Gaudí: “El Capricho”.

As all the masters’ works the aspect of this building surprising. Its walls are covered with sunflowers that give light and warmth to a corner often covered by the gray hazes of the Atlantic climate, the windows that enlighten the interior let us see capricious shapes and the forging of the balustrades of the saloon balconies with its bancs from where you can admire not the environment but the house itself... All these details and others bring us closer to the young Gaudí who designed “El Capricho” at the end of century XIX.

Many visitors pass by to know “El Capricho”. The small palace is of private property today, so it's impossible to admire its interior where a restaurant is established. It is possible to visit the garden and admire the exterior of the complex. There's a shop at our disposition where we can buy several souvenirs related to the architect's persona. It might be a good idea to improve the signaling of the access to the perimeter; we shouldn't forget that this building can become Patrimony of Humankind very soon. Installing some information boards would also help the visitors to know its history as well as Gaudí's universe.

I hope the pictures that go along with these lines make you come closer to this singular work of our master.

Many “Gaudinian” greetings!
Ma Teresa Segura

Thanks a lot, Mª Teresa!!!