I visited Altamira as part of my mad dash across souther France and northern Spain in April 2018. I was intrigued by the opportunity, that Altamira museum has been practising for the past couple of years, to visit the original Altamira cave.

I stayed at nearby town Santillana del Mar, which in itself is very picturesque sight and boasts church Collegiale de Santa Juliana from 12th century which is part of the inscribed routes of Santiago de Compostela WHS.

In the morning I drove to the museum of Altamira (2 km away) at the opening time 09:30, where a decent crowd was already stepping anxiously in front of the gate. It was the day of the Lottery.

The Lottery works like this: Every Friday everyone above the age of 16, who bought a ticket to the museum between 09:30 and 10:30 is eligible to participate. You need to read and agree to the conditions (for example that you will change into special protective clothing, will not touch anything or take pictures of anything, etc.), fill in a short form with your name, passport/national ID number and telephone and toss it into good old fashioned draw box. Five lucky winners then get to visit the original cave.

If you have arrived at 09:30 you have plenty of time to view the replica of the cave and visit the rest of the museum. 

At approximately 10:40 the draw begins and the suspense is intense. It reminded me of times at university when results of exams were announced. About 100 people gathered and awaited. Five lucky names are called in quick succession, people clap a little more less sincerely every time someone from the lucky ones show up to check ID. If anyone is not present the telephone number they have left is called and in five minutes in case of no show additional form is drawn from the box. Five visitors depart to change and to visit the real cave straight away.

Unfortunately my name was not drawn, so a little sad I checked the locked entrance to Altamira cave, which is 200 meters behind the museum. Afterwards I did the next best thing and visited one of the other inscribed caves - El Castillo. It is about 18 km away in Puerto Viesgo. Guided tour is required to visit the cave, but luckily one group was just departing into the cave and had one more spot available. Inside you can see original paintings of bisons, negative hand prints, unidentified signs, although all not as impressive as the ones in Altamira. 

Hopefully, next review that is going to be above me will be of someone, who managed to win and visit the original cave. Good luck!