Salamanca, the location of the oldest University in Spain and one of the oldest in Europe. was my latest weekend excursion. Salamanca is situated approx. two and half hours north west of Madrid and located in the autonomous community of Castilla y Leon. It is known to be largely a University City. In fact, it attracts thousand of international students annually who seek mostly to learn the Spanish language. This trip was organized by my university, Comillas. For the meager price of 65 euros, the trip was a true bargain. It included transportation, hotel accommodations for one night, breakfast, various guided tours and entrance into various museums.
Once again at 8 am on a brisk Saturday morning I boarded a bus with about 70 other exhausted foreign exchange (Erasmus) students. Yes the reason everyone was exhausted of course was because we all stayed out the previous night until 6 am. Btw, "Keepers," a night club in Madrid, is highly suggested! As soon as we arrived in Salamanca, we placed our luggage in our rooms and set off on our first tour of the city’s center. We started, where most tours begin in Spain, in the Plaza Mayor and moved towards the Cathedrals.
Interestingly,Salamanca has two cathedrals,
one attached to the other. The older cathedral was built in the 12th century in
romanesque architectural style; while the newer much larger Cathedral was built
in the 16th century and completed in the 18th century in gothic style.
FUN FACT: When the new cathedral was being restored a restoration
artist took it upon himself to “contemporize” the cathedral, so he
carved an astronaut figurine into one of the arches.
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| Try and spot the Astronaut! |
After the
cathedrals, we also toured
the Casa de las Conchas ( the house of sea
shells) which is currently a public library. This early 16th century
building was constructed when
Finally
at 2 pm, we had a food
break! I, as always, was starving. We headed back into the plaza mayor and
found a nice terrazza outside to enjoy lunch. So I along with a bunch
of other students sat down and enjoyed a nice long 2 hour lunch in
the sun. I ate "entremeses" (appetizers)
After lunch, we took a tour of the University of Salamanca the oldest University in Spain and the third oldest University in all of Europe. It was founded in 1218. The University is absolutely beautiful and can be best described as a real life version of Hogwarts! And let’s be honest… who doesn't like Harry Potter? Every room has large tapestries covering the walls and wooded benches instead of desks. While most of the university buildings are still in operational use, one building has been historically preserved for tourists. How cool would it be to say you attend the oldest University in your country?
After about 5 hours of touring, the lack of sleep was finally catching up to me. I NEEDED sleep. So, my friend and I attempted to return to the hotel to take a much needed siesta before the FIESTA. Well, the unique thing about Salamanca is that the entire city is made out of the same white stone. While beautiful, it makes getting around the city extremely challenging and confusing. So what should have been a 10 minute walk turned into an ordeal of over an hour. Along the way, we stopped at a local bar to watch the end of the Real Madrid versus Barcelona soccer game, then we stopped in a grocery store to buy water and afterwards took several wrong turns. Finally at 8pm we made it back to our hotel. After a quick siesta we were ready to begin the night! We started the evening at a pub called Gatsby! That night we went to several other pubs each with different themes and met some interesting people along the way (For some reason, many people were wearing animal outfits, an animal rights fundraiser or pre Halloween festivities???..I don't know.) We also accidentally attended a bridal party at a local “Spanish" themed bar and ended the night at "Camelot," a medieval themed discoteca (nightclub). We finally made it back to the hotel around 4 am and beyond exhausted.
A mere five hours later, I was up again getting ready for day two of tours! Thankfully, our tour guide understood that everyone had a long night so she took it easy on us. We began by walking toward the Thormes River to appreciate the marvels of Salamanca's roman bridge. Here we spent half of the tour taking what seemed like a million group photos…tourism at its finest.
We spent the rest of the tour walking leisurely around the city. But how can our tour end without an aerial view of this historic city??? So a determined group of us bought tickets to climb the Leronimus bell tower located near Plaza Juan XXlll. Well worth the effort! How I mustered the energy to climb hundreds of steps still puzzles me! It was absolutely beautiful at the top. Once inside the bell tower, there is a smaller spiral stair case that leads to the actual bell. The entire bell mechanism was extremely fascinating. I really loved it.
After the bell tower, I was completely beat and ready to go home. I thought I would get some much needed rest on the return trip. Even though we were back in Madrid by 8pm, I was still completely exhausted. WHAT A LONG WEEKEND! Time to hit the sack.
Coming up next… some more info about Madrid and a trip to Santiago de Compostela and La Coruna!
But, chao for now!
