I’ve got a confession to make. I started watching the (available on Netflix series) Grand Hotel.  It takes place in a fictional town in northern coastal Spain. It was a ridiculous and over the top soap. So, part of my Spain itinerary have to include Santander, which was the primary filming location, at least for the shots of the Hotel itself where Alicia and Julio fell in love, and horrible Diego and Teresa ran the show. I told you it was silly, but good fun. The Grand Hotel was not a hotel at all but was built starting in 1908 as a summer residence for the royal family. Personally, I find the building to be a weird amalgam of styles, and with no balance or symmetry. The towers are different sizes, there’s a weird Tudor thing going on.  It wasn’t possible to visit that day, but I enjoyed the walk around outside.

This is the hidden chamber where Diego imprisoned Alecia!