DAY THREE: (10TH APRIL, 2026): SANTANDER

We woke up in the port of Santander and as the captain had said in his announcement that as it was a bit windy and the clouds would soon disappear, we decided to have breakfast in Saffron Restaurant.
I chose the Eggs Benedict and Phil had smoked salmon with tomato and bacon, both of which were very tasty.


We hadn’t booked any excursions for this port and so we decided to take a stroll around the town and take in the sights.
We found the town hall and then as we were walking up a street we came upon a produce market. We entered and were immediately greeted by a bustling market with stalls of fresh fish, cockles, mussells, crabs and lobsters, in fact everything you can think of that lives in the sea! It was amazing to see the locals haggling and the noise was incredible.
Then we went upstairs and there was lots of stalls selling meat, cheese, fruit and vegetables. Everything looked much bigger than you get in Tesco’s!!
It was time to find Santander Bank, which we did fairly easily as there were a lot of people standing around it, taking photos pointing to the bank’s sign! So, of course, we had to do it.


Just across the road from the bank is the Cathedral Basilica, which was a Gothic-style cathedral. There is a lower church which is worth a visit as well as it houses the relics of saints. It cost two Euros each and it was money well spent as it gave you time to reflect and it is a place of solitude amongst the hustle and bustle of Santander.
After that, we decided to go back to the ship where we had some lunch and then as it was a sunny day, Phil decided to go swimming in the Oasis Pool and I laid on the sunlounger soaking up the sun.
Dinner was at the Sindhu restaurant and we made our way down to Deck 7 to indulge in truly amazing Indian cuisine. We always try and have a meal at Sindhu when we are on a P&O ship as we are fans of Atul Kochhar and have eaten at his London restaurant, Kanishka. I did write a blog about our experience at his restaurant, which you can read here.
Phil and I chose the same starter which was Goan Pork and Choris Chilli Fry. We should have taken note of the number 3 spice level indicator as it was quite spicy, but this didn’t detract from the taste, it was delicious!


For our main course I had Shahi Murgh Chicken Korma and Phil had Lamb Rogan Josh which we shared. The rice was exceptional, it was light and fluffy and very moreish. Both the curries tasted fantastic and we cleared all the dishes, which we don’t manage very often.
Phil had Chocolate Textures for dessert and I had Boondi Ladoo which is honey and rose yoghurt cheesecake and I have to say, this was probably one of the best desserts I have eaten on a cruise ship!!


After we couldn’t possibly eat any more, we went to the Havana club which was just down from Sindhu on the same deck where we watched Busker, Aiden O’Brien. He was very good and sung different genres of music and it was lovely to sit and relax with a drink and listen to him.
We took a walk along the promenade deck, where we watched the sun set on another wonderful day on board P&O’s Ventura.

The video of our day in Santander is now available on YouTube. Please take a look and consider subscribing, it is totally free and it would really help me to create more travel content.




































