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Published: April 2nd 2006
Salamanca
Salamanca´s symbol on a sewage drain...Sarah Farber and I are now in beautiful Salamanca...we arrived yesterday afternoon via bus from Oviedo. Blair and Alyssa journeyed off to Madrid for the next two days and tomorrow we will reunite in Toledo, which is a Midevil town just southwest of Madrid. Salamanca is really an amazing town, it is full of so much history, I really don´t even know how to describe it. The university here, which used to be considered one of the four lights of the world along with Oxford was built in 1219 or something crazy like that. There is such a deep history of the Catholic religion here as well. The most impressive thing of all though is the architecture...it is called plateresque (spelling?) and it is so incredibly intricate and detailed, it is hard to fathom how long it took to make this city. Plus it was created thousands of years ago...I just keep wondering what the city looked like then... Hopefully you can see a bit of the details from my pictures, but they cannot compare to the real thing. At night it is even more amazing, they have lights that illuminate the whole city, or this main area, and it is
Plaza Mayor
Here is the Plaza Mayor during the day, I don´t have one of the evening yet, but it will come. Full of people and such history truly spectacular. It is sort of what we imagined from Paris, but we were not there long enough to see that 😊. The Plaza Mayor here is said to be one of the most beautiful in all of Spain...quite spectacular and full of people enjoying the sun, students studying, tourists eating and lovers holding hands. We got here on Saturday and didn´t realize (that it was the weekend as well- days all run together here) that it would be so busy, so after many estamos completos (we are full), we found a small smelly hostel to stay in last night and a different one, not so smelly, for this evening. Last night we got to watch a soccer game between Real Madrid and Barcelona, the two largest teams in Spain...I am sure we were in a mellow bar as well, but it is just so fun to see how much these people really love soccer. There is no hidding emotions when watching this game... They love soccer here more than we love any sport in the U.S...for sure. Blair is thinking about staying around for the World Cup in Germany...if she can save enough money. Leo´s accident with the little
Plaza Mayor
A detailed view of the plaza´s main bell tower concrete post may hinder that a bit, but it would be so amazing to just be in a city where a game is being played.
Salamanca has so much character, it is another city just brimming with life, very distinct from the rest of the cities we´ve been in...Oviedo also had it´s own feel. It didn´t just feel like another big city. Our last night in Oviedo we heard below ´la marcha´which is the act of staying up and out all night dancing and partying... I cannot even comprehend it. Sarah and I got up to run at 8am and there were people just heading home from their night out. We do get a lot of strange looks running, not many women do it here...or at least where we are running. We might try la marcha once during our stay in Europe...but that is a long shot, we are all the earlybed types as well as being muy tranquilla compared to the other people our age here...
So yes that is about all for now...we are gearing up for Santa Semana, as is the rest of Spain. We are definitely going to have to plan and reserve places
catedral nueva
This cathedral took over 100 years to build, I believe it is the third largest in the world behind one in Rome and St. Paul´s Cathedral in London. here in the next two weeks, because their celebration of it is just so immense. With that we are heading further and further south and we will be in Sevilla for a part of the fería festival, which is full of flamenco dances, bull fights and parades... It will be incredible. OK take care everyone...
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