The Magdalena Peninsula is a 69-acre (28 hectare) [1] peninsula located near the entrance to the Bay of Santander in the city of Santander, Cantabria along the north coast of Spain.
A peninsula is a landform surrounded by water on the majority of its border while being connected to a mainland from which it extends. The surrounding water is usually understood to be continuous, though not necessarily named as a single body of water. Peninsulas are not always named as such; one can also be a headland, cape, island promontory, bill, point, or spit. A point is generally considered a tapering piece of land projecting into a body of water that is less prominent than a cape. A river which courses through a very tight meander is also sometimes said to form a "peninsula" within the loop of water. In English, the plural versions of peninsula are peninsulas and, less commonly, peninsulae.
The Bay of Santander is both a comarca of Cantabria and the largest estuary on the North coast of Spain, with an extension of 22.42 km² 9 km long and 5 km wide. Due to the influence of Santander and its metropolitan area, nearly half of the population of the region is gathered around it, which makes the anthropic pressure on this area of water quite notable.
Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain, is a country mostly located in Europe. Its continental European territory is situated on the Iberian Peninsula. Its territory also includes two archipelagoes: the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, and the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The African enclaves of Ceuta, Melilla, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera make Spain the only European country to have a physical border with an African country (Morocco). Several small islands in the Alboran Sea are also part of Spanish territory. The country's mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar; to the north and northeast by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the west and northwest by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean.
The peninsula is a popular recreational destination for both tourists and locals. The historic Palacio de la Magdalena is located on the peninsula, which along with its surrounding gardens, is designated as a cultural heritage site. [2] Also located on the peninsula is a small zoo, three galleons of the Cantabrian mariner Vital Alsar Ramírez, two beaches and a lighthouse. [2]
The Palacio de la Magdalena is a palace located on the Magdalena Peninsula of the city of Santander, Cantabria, Spain. It was built between 1909 and 1911, by popular subscription, to house the Spanish Royal Family. Built by the architects Javier González Riancho and Gonzalo Bringas Vega, is located in the place where the old Fort of San Salvador de Hano was, which protected the entrance to the bay.
Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used by the Spanish as armed cargo carriers and later adopted by other European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal fleet units drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the mid-1600s. Galleons generally carried three or more masts with a lateen fore-and-aft rig on the rear masts, were carvel built with a prominent squared off raised stern, and used square-rigged sail plans on their fore-mast and main-masts.
Vital Alsar Ramírez was born on August 7, 1933, in "Calle Alta" in Santander, Cantabria, Spain.
