Tequila and Los Indianos de Santillana Tequila Route (EN)

This house is the birthplace of the lineage of Pedro Sánchez de Tagle, who is considered by some to be the "father of tequila", an attribution based on his role during the viceroyalty of New Spain and his association with the introduction of tequila taverns. In the early 17th century he built the first large distillery in Tequila, Jalisco, where the drink is produced today. Although he did not invent tequila, his company pioneered the large-scale production of what was then called "mezcal wine," and his lineage still remains in Santillana del Mar. This mansion, located in Campo del Revolgo, was built at the end of the 17th century by Don Andrés, brother of Don Luis (first Marquis of Altamira), Don Anselmo, Bishop of Michoacán (Mexico) and Don Pedro (Prior of the Consulate of Mexico), who made their fortune in the Indies. It is original for its balcony on the upper floor over the spectacular coat of arms. It preserves an excellent archive and art collection that gives it a stately atmosphere, with well-preserved furniture and objects of the time.

The Valdivieso Palace, also known as Valdivielso, is located at the confluence of Canton Street and Lindas Alley. It was built in the first half of the 18th century. It is known as Casa de Valdivielso in the Cadastre of the Marquis de la Ensenada (1753), showing its coat of arms on a corner. It has a sensibly square floor plan, with two floors and a gabled roof on the main and rear facades. The main facade in ashlar stone is oriented to the east. It is structured in three vertical streets separated by pilasters, with the entrance doorway in the central one, with entrance from Canton Street. On the upper floor there are four stone balconies, with iron railings and linteled doors framed by flat moldings. The wall is finished with a double cornice to support the roof. The mezzanine has been fitted out by opening attics to serve its current function as the Altamira Hotel.

It is one of the most elegant and unique buildings in the town of Santillana del Mar. The set is formed by the Peredo-Barreda Palace, the annexed houses and the splendid garden that frames them. It is built on an old tower or Gothic house that the Barreda family owned on this site. It was built in the early eighteenth century by D. Francisco Miguel de Peredo, Indian and Knight of the Order of Calatarava since 1964, whose lineage also owned the palaces of Mijares and Viveda. The Peredo Barreda Palace is also known as the "Palace of the Benemejís", as the descendants of the Marquise of Benemejís were the owners of the palace until its acquisition by Caja Cantabria. The modern Cultural Center, to which the architectural intervention in the annexed houses of Velarde and Quijano has given rise, hosts a stable exhibition program. The refurbishment of the Palace and the heritage ensembles it houses, library, decorative and plastic arts, constitutes a new space of cultural interest.

Of all the palaces in Santillana del Mar, the Barreda-Bracho is the one that has hosted more guests since 1944 when it opened its doors as Parador Nacional Gil Blas, a name that did not take from any of the members of the noble family that occupied it, but from the famous literary character of the picaresque work of the French playwright René Lesage, born in Santillana. Since then, travelers have not stopped coming to enjoy the atmosphere of an authentic mountain palace. The Barreda-Bracho palace was home to two wealthy families related to each other, hence the name brings together the two surnames. The building built in the late seventeenth century in ashlar stone and in a sober Baroque style typical of the time has three floors and a gable roof that ends in its two facades, the main one overlooking the main square with its four wrought iron balconies and the family coat of arms, and the opposite, which is reached from a rear entrance facing the Carrera street. Its interior, in addition to being a hotel, has a restaurant and a cafeteria-terrace open to the public where you can take a break and the typical sponge cake with fresh milk.