In the Green Hills of Cantabria

Mario, este es un artículo que escribió Isabel Soto y publicaba The New York Times el 19/07/1987. En el se refiere al arte románico en Bolmir y en otros pueblos de Campoo:

Unlike the southern regions of Spain, where Moorish influence prevailed, Cantabria has an abundance of Romanesque architecture. A fine example in Cervatos is the church of San Pedro, which stands unpretentiously against the rolling hills of the Campoo valley. The church's plain lines are enlivened by intricate stonework of intertwined foliage over the entrance and elsewhere. Most eye-catching, however, are the capitals, well-preserved and richly erotic. Look for the celebrated mujer impudica (shameless woman) crowning the left column of the left window of the apse with her no less shameless male counterpart opposite. About two miles northeast of Cervatos are Retortillo and Bolmir. Retortillo was built on the site of a Roman town. The village church, Santa Maria de Retortillo, has particularly fine carvings of human figures in combat as well as leaf and geometric designs and animals. Inside, the right and left capitals of the triumphal arch depict scenes of knights in chain mail brandishing spears and shields, separated by a gentle damsel.

Outside the church lie the partly excavated Roman ruins of Juliobriga, with bare oulines of the town exposed. Nearby are excavations in which Roman sarcophagi have been unearthed.

Stepping from the church's medieval interior into the more distant past of the ruins, time becomes meaningless. Where excavations are complete, one can stroll through the supremely rational layout of Roman urban design. The spell is broken by a farmer shooing a foal from an adjacent field into the ruins, to graze on the succulent grass that grows where Caesar's minions once walked.

One mile due east of Retortillo stands Bolmir with its 12th-century church of San Cipriano. The outside capitals are characteristically profane, some repeating the erotic themes of Cervatos.

The vast birch forests and valleys, alternately rugged and gentle and sprinkled with far-flung villages, are reward for visitors who drive in the region. One can take a circular route from Reinosa, the bustling capital of the Campoo valley, to Santander, then west along the coast to San Vicente de la Barquera and south again to Reinosa.

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