Salamanca

Hola! Since Kim is busy with work, I’m filling in for her as guest blog writer for the day. We had quite a busy weekend with lots of driving around, but it was very enjoyable. We visited three of the most famous cities in Spain – Salamanca, Ávila, and Segovia.

We left La Coruña on Friday evening and it took us about 4 ½ hours to get to Salamanca. When we got to Salamanca, we were ready to check in at the hotel when they told us that they had to move us to a different hotel. Lucky for us, we got upgraded from a 3-star hotel to a 4-star hotel not too far from Plaza Mayor! Apparently there was a problem on one of the floors and all of the rooms on that floor were uninhabitable (who would want to stay in that hotel anyway, right?)

Plaza Mayor at Night

So we moved hotels and then made it to Plaza Mayor for a late dinner. Plaza Mayor is amazing. Even 1000 PTSBYD calls it “Spain’s Most Beautiful Square”. Like Plaza Mayor in Madrid or María Pita here in La Coruña, there are places to eat all around the square and it’s great to sit and people watch while taking in the surroundings. One thing that impressed us about Salamanca even as we were driving in trying to find the hotel was the amount of college students. Salamanca has “what was once Europe’s most important university” that was founded in 1218 and there are 15,000 students in the city. It made us feel a bit old!

Plaza Mayor in the Daylight

Saturday morning we explored the city. After taking some pictures in Plaza Mayor, we walked over to the Casa de las Conchas, which is a house that is covered in over 400 scallop shells (carvings, not real) as a symbol of pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela.

Casa de las Conchas

It had a nice cloister, from which you could see the clerical university across the street.

We then went to see Salamanca’s two cathedrals. They are built right next to each other in a way that you can only get to the old cathedral from inside of the new one. While the old cathedral (Catedral Vieja) was built in the 13^th century and the new one (Catedral Nueva) in the 16^th century, there is a modern touch on the entrance to the Catedral Nueva: an astronaut! The entrance was restored and an astronaut was carved in the doorway. I think it’s neat to think that a little Texas connection (NASA and Johnson Space Center) is on a cathedral in Spain…

Astronaut!

Forgive me while I give a little aside on the architecture in the city, but almost all of the buildings are made of sandstone. The tan/beige color makes the city feel very warm and “home-y”. The cathedrals, which in many places feel a bit cold because of the typical gray stone, felt much more inviting. There was quite a bit of natural light too, so that made them nicer as well. The widespread use of sandstone definitely makes the city unique and very nice on the eyes.

Inside New Cathedral

In the Courtyard

Cathedral

After visiting the two cathedrals, we went by the University in Salamanca. Somewhere in the huge and detailed façade on the front of the main building there is a little tiny stone frog. If you find the frog it is supposed to bring you good luck. Luckily for us there was a tour guide shining a light on the little thing with a mirror. We got out the zoom lens and got a good picture of it.

University Façade

Good Luck Frog (on the skull in center of picure)

We then made our way to the Church & Convent of Saint Stephen (San Esteban). This was a convent for the Dominican priests and it had some interesting stories on the role they served in the colonization of the Americas. The convent had a very nice cloister, church, and resident birds (that Kim took about 10 pictures of).

One of Kim's Birds on Nest

By this time, it was pretty hot outside and time for lunch, so we went to Plaza Mayor to grab some lunch. After lunch, with the heat, full stomachs, and a bit of wine, we were both feeling a bit sleepy, so we went to back to the hotel for a nice siesta (when in Spain…).

Feeling refreshed, we went back out to finish exploring the city and went to the Convento de las Dueñas, which was a former Mudéjar palace (according to Merriam-Webster, a mudejar is a Muslim living under a Christian king especially during the 8th to 11th centuries). The cloister was very nice and the Muslim heritage was evident in the doorways. This convent is famous not only for the building but for the baked goods that the nuns make. We bought some cookies called “amarguillos” which are made from 3 ingredients: almonds, sugar, and egg whites. They are very tasty.

Huge Hymnal

Courtyard at Convent

This was the last major sight to see in the city, so we decided to do a little shopping. There is no H&M in La Coruña (since it is Zara’s main competitor and every time they’ve tried to open a store here they’ve been denied), so Kim was glad to shop there in addition to Zara. Later that night we had a nice dinner next to the Casa de las Conchas and took a couple of night pictures since all of the buildings are lit up beautifully.

Cathedral at Night

The next morning, we woke up early to drive to Ávila… However, it's bedtime now, so the Ávila and Segovia entry will have to wait until tomorrow! Here is a little teaser picture: