Salamanca, Spain

I booked this city as part of our trip simply because I needed a filler city between other stops. Now I’m wishing we had stayed here longer. What a great city! This was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. The city itself is so beautiful, particularly at night when they light everything up.

The main Cathedral of Salamanca was a short walk from our hotel.

We found a nice little restaurant that has a lot of wines by the glass. The very best wines they had, which were quite good, were 6 euros a glass. That includes food! Whenever you order a glass of wine here in Northern Spain, they add food with the wine.

This wine in particular was so good we had to have more than one glass. Didn’t really care for the winery name though.

Every big city in Spain seems to have a Plaza Mayor. This one wasn’t as brilliantly lit up as others we have seen, but it did have this huge gift box in the middle.

A few minutes before 8 this crowd gathered around the box. We weren’t sure what was happening, but as we approached the box it started a light show (complete with Disneyfied music) that went on for about 5 minutes.

It was pretty cool, but I would have still rather seen more Christmas decorations around the square.

We walked around town and found a church that was open, so I of course walked in. There was a service going on, so after much insistence I got Kim to sit down for a little while. At least they didn’t start walking around with a collection plate. As a matter of fact, we saved money, as they normally charge a fee, but it’s free when there is a service. Important fact for future church visits!

We saw this sign on the lawn next to the University. I can only assume they have problems with people urinating on the lawns?

There is an old library attached to the University that has a painted ceiling called the Cielo de Salamanca that depicts the stars and constellations. It was originally painted in the 15th century, and then covered by another ceiling after a fire affected another portion of the building. They discovered this hidden fresco during more current renovations, and have now preserved it.

Spotted this huge Stork’s nest up on the side of one of the churches.

We ran across a free museum dedicated to Venancio Blanco, who just died in February. He was born just outside of Salamanca, and spent his formative years here. We actually liked his art quite a bit, so it was nice to find this little museum tucked away near our hotel.

Chicken!

We even saw one of his statues while out walking around later that evening.

One last night time shot. This is the exterior of the modern art museum. I’ve seen enough modern art to last me a life time, so we didn’t go in. Beautiful exterior though.

I can highly recommend a visit to Salamanca! Our hotel, Hotel Rector, was excellent. Very comfortable, quiet, and the perfect location.