Spain: Trip to Salamanca: Part 1

Last weekend I took a trip to Salamanca, Spain with a group of friends. We had Monday off for an Andalusian holiday so a group of friends and I rented a car and headed up north to visit the University town of Salamanca.

And we're off

Salamanca is a smaller town in western Spain about 3 hours from Madrid. The population is around 150,000 but it seems larger due to the large population of University students. The city is home to a large population of both Spanish and international students.

So we rented a car and got into town on Friday night at about 9 PM. We found our hostel which was really close to the town center and decided to head out and see what kind of nightlife the town had to offer. It was packed everywhere with students. It reminded me a lot more like Granada because they are both home to large universities that attract both Spanish students and students from abroad. We ended up staying out until about 5 am.

Saturday we woke up and did some sightseeing. We started of in Plaza Mayor. It was built between 1729 - 1755. It is considered Spain's most beautiful Plaza Mayor. I have heard this from travel guide books and other Spaniards in Seville, including my roommate who was born in Salamanca and lived there for most of his childhood.

Plaza Mayor

The plaza consists of a large square surrounded by buildings. Some of the buldings are hotels, others are government offices. The ground floor is mainly stores and cafes which set up chairs and umbrellas under the many arches that make up the perimeter of the Square. I read that Bullfights were held in the Plaza well into the 19th century; the last ceremonial bullfight took place in 1992.

Plaza Mayor

Between the arches that surround the plaza are medallion statues that bear the portraits of famous figures in Spanish history. I took sometime and walked around the plaza inspecting each portrait to see if I recognized the name. Ironically the last medallion I came across was that of Francisco Franco, or better known as just Franco. Franco was a military general and later became Head of State in Spain for over 40 years after a bloody and agonizing Civil War. Many people dislike him and it was apparent in the University town. Someone had thrown what looked like purple paint all over the medallion running down the arches to the ground below.

Franco

Franco's medallion vandalized w/ paint

University of Salamanca on the right

We also went to the famous facade of the Universidad Civil to locate a frog that was sculpted into the facade. Finding the frog on the facade is said to bring good luck and even marriage within a year. I heard about the frog from a friend who studied there a year before. I spent a while trying to locate it but it was next to impossible. I finally got a general idea where it was and kept looking with no luck. In the end I asked a lady next to me who pointed it out. It was tiny, and eroded, but you could still make it out.

In the middle below the 3 shields is a large portrait in a circle of Ferdando and Isabel, From there, look at the largest column on the right of the Facade. Just above the level of the Circle portrait of the King and Queen is a series of skulls, and atop the leftmost skull sits the frog. cant see in this photo below if a close up

there it is!

We walked around the campus area for a bit and then decided to head to the Cathedral to check that out. The cathedral consisted of 2 buildings; Catedral Nueva and Catedral Vieja (New and Old Cathedrals) We took the tower up to the top of the Catedral Nueva to see view from all over the city.

Old roman bridge crossing the Rio Tormes

The Cathedral was really pretty. There was some internal damage from an earthquake that was pretty visible; some of the arches at the top near the domes had pretty large cracks. You were able to walk on a pathway that went on the roof of the cathedral. This was really cool because you were able to see all the detail of the Church something that you are not able to do at the Cathedral in Sevilla