SALAMANCA

By the time we hopped off the train and evaded the ticket inspectors and walked out into the streets of Salamanca, it was almost 1am.  We got a taxi (they are so unbelievably cheap in Spain, and so believably better than Melbourne!) to our hostel, but unfortunately it did not have a 24hr reception and so we were locked out for the night.  We contemplated sleeping in the street, but after such a long day we needed a good rest, so we checked into a hotel just two doors down and went straight to bed.

We were up at 9am the next morning and checked in at Hostel Termes.  Carlos the hostel owner was very sympathetic with our troubles the night before and very kindly didn't charge us for the night we had missed.

After getting accustomed to our accommodation for the next two nights, we set out to see why everyone says Salamanca is a dream destination of rare architectural splendour.

First stop was the exceptional Plaza Mayor which is widely regarded as Spain's most stunning central square.  Built between 1729-1755, bullfights were held here until 1992 and nowadays the plaza's outdoor tables are a place to linger and watch all that passes by.

Next stop was the Casa de las Conchas, one of the city's most popular buildings named after the scallop shells clinging to it's facade.  The original owner was a doctor and a member of the order of Santiago, whose symbol is the shell.  Nowadays it houses the public library.

looking from the cloisters on the 2nd level of the Casa de la Conchas up at the Real Clerica de San Marcos

looking out to the Cathedral Nueva from the towers of the Real Clerica de San Marcos, an old baroque church

Continung our walk, we headed through the beautiful streets littered in golden sandstone buildings until we reached the massive Cathedral Nueva.

mirrors enabling you to look up at the marvellous roof without getting a sore neck!

After a great lunch comprising huge salads and a sneaky sangria on the side, we headed for the Universidad Civil, Salamanca's famous university that was founded in 1218 and became the equal of Oxford and Bologna as the most renowned universities in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries.

The visual feast of the entrance facade is a tapestry in sandstone, bursting with images of mythical heroes, religious scenes and coats of arms. 

However, it is the elusive frog that draws the crowds.  Once pointed out it is easily enough seen, but the uninitiated can spend considerable time searching, including us!

They say that those who detect it without help can be assured of good luck and even marriage within 1 year.  Some hopeful students also see a guaranteed examination's victory in it.

the frog is situated on the right column, 2/3's of the way up

The highlight was clearly the extraordinary university library, one of the oldest university libraries in Europe.  With over 2,800 manuscripts gathering dust, its like a cemetery of old forgotten books, but it was pretty cool.

We had spent basically the whole day on our feet, so we went back to the hostel around 6pm and rested up before dinner.

our hostel was in a perfect location, right in the main street, and our room had a great balcony!

Unfortunately dinner that night was pretty average.  There are a lot of restaurants catering for the many students that inhabit Salamanca and we happened to pick one of them, which meant fries with everything!

The bar had the Spain v Australia water polo match, so we were able to watch Alberto (a really nice guy that we met through Anna's school in Florence) score a goal for Spain which was pretty cool.

After a few drinks at the restaurant bar watching the water polo, we went for a walk around Plaza Mayor.  It was illuminated to stunning effect and was a great sight. We were also lucky enough to be entertained by the "tunas", a student band dressed in Renaissance costume.

Next morning we hesitantly got our running gear on and went for a run to the local athletics track where we ran a few laps and did some cross fit style exercise.  By the time we finished it was getting extremely hot, so we quickly walked home to have cold showers.

We then went to the Museo Taurino, a great little place in a side street that was packed full of bullfighting memorabilia.

Julio Robles, one of Spain's most famous bullfighters

Lunch was an amazing array of tapas treats, highlighted by the mini hamburgers with caramelised onions.

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping, and then that evening we went back to Plaza Mayor to have a few drinks and a pre-dinner snack.

As has been the case with most bar/restaurants that are in touristy areas, the prices were at least a few euro more and the service was a lot worse!  In fact, the service was so bad that we decided it wasn't worth paying for, so we snuck around the corner and off to dinner!

Dinner ended up being one of the best experiences we have had in Europe so far.  The restaurant was called Tablanca and we were lucky enough to score seats right in front of the kitchen to watch everything that went on.

We started with a bottle of rosados (rose) and were even served a great little tapas treat (potato croquette in egg yolk) on the house.  The chef Carlos Barco even came out to say hi and told us about the dish he had created for us.
We watched with anticipation as our suckling pig was prepared and when we took our first bite, we both looked at each other with big smiles on our faces and then both gave chef Carlos the thumbs up through the window!

Anna had a mouth watering cheesecake with raspberry sauce and my churros doughnut was served with chocolate sauce, whipped cream and little choc flavoured rice bubbles, amazing!

When the bill arrived, we were astounded to see that the total was only 22 euros.  We then realised that they had given us the wrong one, as ours should have been more like 60-70.  Usually we would have grabbed the opportunity to save a few bucks, but on this occasion, the whole experience had been so great, that we told them of the error and paid the full 74 euros (and we had free drinks and snacks at the previous cafe' haha!).  One of the most expensive meals we have had on this trip, but totally worth it.

Just goes to show you what a little service can do!

The massive student population throng the streets at night, but this literally doesn't start until about 3am and we couldn't be bothered waiting for the nightlife to pick up, so we had a few more drinks and then hit the sack about 2am.

Anna's hair is getting seriously long!

The next morning we checked out and headed for the bus stop, where we had a 7 hour bus trip to Seville.  Amazingly the bus had free wi-fi, so we were able to do a bit of facebooking, check emails, follow the footy etc, but we spent the majority of the time watching Revenge, our new favourite tv show!