Salamanca

The weekend of Valentine's day, we got a big group together and went on a trip to Salamanca, a small city about two and a half hours from Madrid with a lot of history and a hopping nightlife. The night before we left, which was the actual day of St. Valentine, we met up at our friend Victoria's place and made delicious burritos for dinner!

Our delicious Valentine's Day burritos!

Originally, there were only going to be four of us going to Salamanca, but then another friend had her plans change at the last minute and wound up joining, along with one of her friends as well! In total, we were six, but it all worked out perfectly because we got a private room at the hostel (which was only 10€ a night since we were there in the super off season) and had a ton of fun being all together! It was the first time I'd traveled with such a big group, but it obviously makes everything crazier, yet more exciting.

Our Salamanca group: me, Natalie, Victoria, Amanda, Kamil and Kristi

The University

The city center of Salamanca has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site thanks to the high concentration of old and well-preserved buildings it contains. It is most famous for being home to one of the oldest universities in Europe, which was founded in 1134. The university continues to function today, and while we were unfortunately unable to take a tour of any of the beautiful buildings, we did get to experience the college-town party scene when we went out Saturday night!

Two old buildings that form part of the university 

Plaza Mayor

Salamanca is also famous for having one of the largest and (although this is obviously unquantifiable) most beautiful main squares in all of Spain. As in Madrid, the rest of Spain, and most of Europe in general, the central plaza is not just a tourist attraction but is truly a social "center" for the inhabitants of the city. The first floor of the plaza is full of shops and restaurants, while the upper stories are occupied by apartments. On Sunday, when it was in the mid-sixties and perfectly sunny, the square was full of people who had brought food or coffee and sat down on the ground to enjoy the weather. At night time, it is lit up to beautiful effect!

Me and Victoria in the Plaza Mayor

Enjoying a Sunday frozen yogurt in the Plaza

The Plaza Mayor at night

The Cathedral

Like any good European city, Salamanca has many impressive old churches. In addition to the Plaza Mayor and the university, it is also home to not one, but two quite famous cathedrals. Un-creatively named the "Old Cathedral" and the "New Cathedral" (Catedral vieja y catedral nueva), they are built right next to each other, appearing as though they were one giant building. 

Just one side of the massive "double-cathedral" complex

The interior of the Old Cathedral was very impressive, as some of the wall paintings date back to the twelfth or thirteenth centuries! There were all kinds of curiosities inside - tombs, an extremely ornate main altar, peculiar sculptures, and some very interesting old organs (this is what the green triangular thing in the top right picture below is).

Interior of the Old Cathedral

The New Cathedral was obviously cool too, but not much different than every other cathedral we've already visited.

Interior of the New Cathedral

You could also climb up the towers to get great views of the cathedral's roofs, buttresses and spires, as well as of the city.

Views from the top of the cathedral

The façades of the cathedral are also famous, as each and every inch is bursting with intricately-carved sculptures. On one of the façades, there are an astronaut and a frog hidden amongst all of the ornate decoration. Legend has it that if you can locate the frog, you will find your true love immediately afterwards! We found the astronaut, which was added as a kind of joke by workers doing restoration during the nineteenth century, but not the frog! So much for finding true love!

Just one doorway on one of the façades of the cathedral. You can imagine how hard it was to find the tiny frog and astronaut!

In spite of not finding true love, it was all in all a wonderful trip! Although we only stayed for one night, the two days we spent there were packed with fun and fascinating things. It always makes for a great trip when you can find not only old, beautiful art and architecture but also modern-day excitement and fun. And, of course, trips are always better when shared with good friends!