Task 1: My village

As you can see, I am not going to talk about me. I prefered doing a presentation about my village, which is called Las Fraguas, because I thought it could be an interesting and different topic and, of course, something really important for me.

This is the place where my mother was bornt and where she grew up. My grandparents used to live there until they moved to Santander, some years ago. That is the reason why, unfortunately, nowadays I do not go very often, although some relatives live there.

Las Fraguas is located at Arenas de Iguña Valley, 49 kilometres from Santander. This place has a population of 160, approximately, and it is 180 metres above sea level. It is very well communicated to Santander and to other important towns of Cantabria, such as Torrelavega or Reinosa, so there are many posibilities to arrive there:

• You can go by train and it will take you around 50 minutes
• Or if you prefer driving along the highway, you can get there in just half an hour

What can you find in Las Fraguas?

First of all, you will find peace and relax because it is a very quite place. I firmly believe that it is the right destination for all those people who are trying to escape from the stress and the worries of modern life. 

As you can see in the photo, the most representative of Las Fraguas is:

• Besaya River,
• a rural inn called Ocho hermanas,
• El casón de la marquesa, a hotel that used to be an inn for young people not a long time ago,
• and finally Nuestra Señora del Carmen church

Every July 16th is celebrated Nuestra Señora del Carmen festivity so a lot of people from the surrounding villages come to this place in order to follow the procession of the virgin. At this moment all the lights are off and the village is only iluminated by candles. It is very nice.

Regarding to arquitecture, we can find the Neoclassical church of San Jorge, also known as The Parthenon. It was built in 1890, trying to imitate a Greek temple. It is not usually opened to the public, only at special dates such as July 16th.

Very close to San Jorge church, surrounded by charming grounds, stands the sumptuous Palacio de los Hornillos, an English Picturesque style mansion which was designed by an English arquitect, between 1897-1904, as a residence for Santo Mauro duke. It used to be summer residence of King Alfonso XIII and his family. There is another palace in Cantabria that it used to be also the summer residence of Alfonso XIII. It is said that the arquitect who designed Magdalena Palace were inspired by Los Hornillos so you can search for the similarities between both palaces.

There are some movies and advertisements which were shot in Las Fraguas. The most popular is The Others, with Nicole Kidman as the main actress and directed by Alejandro Amenábar but El viaje de Carol, directed by Imanol Uribe, was also shot there just one year later.

Finally, I wanted to share with you some photographs from my childhood until now. In the first one I was only a baby. In the second and the third ones I am with some relatives -my grandmother, my grandfather, my uncle- and a neighbour. The last photograph was taken last summer and if you pay attention you could see Los Hornillos Palace in the background.