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Los Corrales de Buelna in its cantabra wars

Los Corrales de Buelna is a town located in the north of Spain, not far away from Santander, normally it is really a quiet place but in summer during one week, the whole town celebrates a particular festival called “guerras cantabras” (cantabra wars).

It is really something to not miss if you plan to visit the area, above all if you come by ferry from England with your car at Santander, it is just about 40 minutes.

And even if you don’t have a car, rent one just for one day and if you like it, you can go back another day renting again a car but the best is to take the Alsa bus from the main bus station of Santander.

Once there, you will start to see at the entrance of the town flags announcing the cantabra wars, preparing you mentally for the event. In fact, what is about this festival ??? To resume, it is a reconstruction of the roman and barbarian life where majority of the citizen dress like at this period, including a market and a small village divided in 2 sections, one is roman with its typical architecture like pantheon, house, theater… and the other is barbarian like huts, fire camp...

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Each weekend, there is a parade, each one is different according to the theme of the day and shows are organized like fighting, training… The small village is located near to the exit of the town and the parade always begins near the entrance to end inside the roman/barbarian village.

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So if you drive, go until the exit and try to park there, there is free parking but the harder is to find a free place, of course, if you come by bus, you don’t have this problem. If not, you can park anywhere in the town and meanwhile walking, enjoy the town and its surroundings, to tell you the truth, few things to discover.

During the lunch time, between 14h and 17h, there are few people so it is really great to walk in the village and on the market street except if you prefer to be squeezed. The best time that I recommend to go is around 15h, lunch there and stay until night time, take note that the last bus is at 21h25, it will give you time to discover the town and have fun in the village.

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The cantabra wars take place every year starting from the last friday of august until the first sunday of September so if you plan a trip around this period, I will suggest this festival itinerary, first the flower battle of Laredo, then the roman festival of Santander and end with this one.