Salamanca Sunday 21 September
Early start this morning as we have an 8am departure to Salamanca, Spain which is a 2 hour drive away.
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Salamanca is an ancient university town. There are certainly plenty of old buildingsof interest. Being Sunday, most ships are closed, however there is a bike race being conducted that ends in the Plaza Mayor which means we don't get to see the plaza at its best. Thankfully I've been here before so know how pretty it is. We have 90 minutes free time which is a total waste a only cafes are open, but we sit and have a coffee and people watch.
We then start our guided tour. Christina, our guide was very good so we got to see the main buildings and she kept us moving at a good pace. There were lots of people everywhere so it was hard to get photos without lots of heads and bodies in the way!
Storks are a common bird here so it was interesting to see the large stork nests so church steeples and the like. They have all flown to Africa at the moment so we didn't get to actually see any. The Iberian ham is very popular here but I'm not inclined to try it as the 2 previous times when I sampled it, resulted in projectile vomiting so clearly they use a lot of Sulphur in the drying process...
A main university building has a story attached to it that if you can find the fog in the buildings have then as a student, you will pass your exam and if you are a visitor, you will come back again.
The 'Sky of Salamanca' is a mural painting that was originally painted in the 1480s. in the middle of the 18th century, renovations occurred and the painting was hidden in a chamber. unfortunately two thirds of the old vault collapsed but in 1901 they were rediscovered. In the 1950s the paintings were removedfrom the original vault, tendered to canvas and moved to their current location.
We then get to the l2th century cathedral which is lovely from all sides, but the front had definitely had contemporary work done on some of the facade pillars.
We only have 15 minutes free time which is a pain as I really world have liked to wander about on my own and maybe even do some shopping but not time so back to the coach and then we are taken to the Hotel Almeda for our buffet lunch.
One again it is like seagulls on hot chips for many of the group.I start with salad and then have some paella. It was okay but I have had better (in Lisbon ). Dessert was some fluffy thing that I want interested in. The flamenco dancing was interesting but a bit hard to see the foot work.
Time to be back on the coach again at 3pm for our 2 hour drive back to the boat.
Dinner was a nice affair, shared with A Aussies we hadn't met before.
Time to read and do some blog before lights out.
Ah, the ancient astronaut of salamanca
ReplyDeleteHaha that was exactly my thought!!!
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