Salamanca

Monday 8th March and we have been away for three weeks, it seems longer. The night temperature was below freezing but the sky is clear and the sun is out. We set off along the river towards Salamanca on the promised cycle track, this disappears after a few hundred meters and we are onto a mud footpath. This happens two or three times but eventually we are back on firm ground when we enter a park on the outskirts of the city and join locals who are strolling along the river bank enjoying the Spring air. Across a busy street and through the industrial zone and we are in the city centre in an hour and a half.

There are two things about Salamanca that strike us as being different from the other cities we have visited recently. First, the buildings are constructed of sandstone which gives them a much softer feel and second there is no clear definition of the old town so that the buildings from the last five hundred years are mixed together in a very pleasing way. We use a suggested tour route of about four kilometres which will take us around the main sites and set off.

We took only a few photos of Salamanca as the camera ran out of battery – there were a few difficult moments as we tried to decide who was responsible for camera charging but in the end decided upon “cabinet responsibility” and repaired to a café for pintxos.

Salamanca is a university town and so we were not surprised to see plenty of students studying hard in the bars and cafes and the sun in the many plazas. The university was founded in the early thirteenth century and became the equal of Oxford. It is one of the most popular places to study Spanish and we heard plenty of English accents around the streets. The city has many churches two cathedrals and multiple convents all with impressive architecture. The Plaza Mayor is especially large and reminded us St Mark’s Square in Venice.

After a pleasant few hours we head back to the site by the same route pleased to have got some exercise.