A weekend in Salamanca

29 April – 3 May

After five wonderful weeks in Granada with family and a few minor adventures, we headed to parts of Spain unknown to us.

Denis had suggested meeting “somewhere”, but his initial suggestions were places we had visited. Fortunately, Salamanca was on both of our must do lists.

For us it was a couple of train rides. The connection times in Madrid weren’t friendly so we spent a night there and spread our journey over two days.

We were delighted with our chosen AirBnB, on the very edge of the old town of Salamanca and just a few minutes’ walk from the beautiful Plaza Mayor.

Martine, the inveterate traveller, quickly learnt how to navigate the old town and made sure we saw what was important and ate what was important.

So our precious few days together started with a friendly beer in the plaza and a reconnoiter of the old town. We visited the Catedral Nueva de la Asunción de la Virgen, including climbing its tower to get a wonderful view over the city.

We found the Frog at the Universidad Civil. It was quite a funny experience as a crowd was there, each pointing out its position to the newcomers.

We popped into the local parish church of San Benito. The ladies there were very happy to see visitors. Of all the magnificent churches you see, it is humbling to visit a simple place of worship.

One highlight was a visit to the fantastic Casa Lis-Museo de Art Déco y Art Nouveau. No photos permitted, although I have “borrowed” a few from their official website – https://www.museocasalis.org/, just to show some of the magnificent stuff on display.

We wandered across the 1st century Puente Romano which crosses the Río Tormes. It is guarded by the Verraco del puente (Boar of the Bridge or the Bull of Salamanca)

Of course we ate well, starting with a gastranomic meal at Madre Mía Gastrotaberna, eating Bocadillo Jamon in the Plaza del Corrillo, a delicious dinner on the street at Delicatessen Restaurant in Calle Meléndez. We had a big finale dinner to celebrate Martine’s 75th birthday at Mesón Cervantes in the plaza.

There were ice creams and coffees and wines and beers and “tinto de Verano” along with tapas nibbles in between.

Salamanca is certainly one of Spain’s gems. Wikipedia describes it:

The University of Salamanca, founded in 1218, is one of the oldest in Western Europe, and the Old City of Salamanca is UNESCO World Heritage Site, which every year attracts a significant number of students and cultural tourists

There have been settlements found from the iron age and an urban settlement dated to 3rd century BC under the influence of the Celtic tribes.

The Roman empire stretched into northern Iberia. It was an important part of the north-south Via de la plata (derived from the Arabic word al-Balat – the paved road). It was here the Roman bridge was built to assist travellers.

After the Muslim invasion in 712AD, Salamanca was reduced to an unimportant centre. It was revitalized with the victory of the Catholics around the 10th and 11th centuries.

The university which was established in 1218 gained wide recognition for intellectual studies over the following years. Some notable events include:

  • Creation of the first grammar of a Western European language (1492)
  • Preparations for Christopher Columbus’ voyage for the discovery of the Americas (1492)
  • Study by Hernán Cortés before conquering the Aztec Empire (approx. 1520)
  • Francisco de Vitoria who participated in the Council of Trent conceptualised natural law, renewed theology and the foundations of international law (1545-1563)
  • Mathematicians of the university proposed the Gregorian calendar (1582)
  • Partial translation of the bible to Spanish (mid 16th century)
  • Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote of la Mancha was a student at the university (late 16th century)

Today it is a popular university city and a place to study the Spanish language. I reckon it’d be a nice place to spend some time.

Photos were not permitted in this beautiful mansion-museum. These photos are from their website https://www.museocasalis.org/:

And our photos from Salamanca.