Salamanca ~seen through the eyes of three roommates

I’ve recently read a proverb somewhere: “Some roads aren’t meant to be traveled alone”.

This proverb fits perfectly the trip I was on in May, when I got to explore a part of Sunny Spain with two of my best friends, Reni and Adél. The three of us are roommates, but Adél decided to leave us for half a year as she went to study abroad (yes, in Spain). Very soon, Reni and I began to miss her, so we decided to take a little trip and visit our dear friend in her current residence, and while there, why not get to know a bit of Spain? We spent one of the most amazing days in a city of History and Literature mixed with Religion and Culture, where the Old City meets the New City, a place where you can sit down on a terrace with your best buds next to a cold beer, look around and just think to yourself: Salamanca is truly amazing!

as we were approaching..

When we got out of the bus station, the surroundings began to be more and more different from what we got used to after spending a few days in Madrid and Zamora, and that’s when I had a feeling, that this is going to be a special day. As we hurried to the city center, we passed the house of the creator of Don Quixote himself- Miguel de Cervantes!

residence of M. de Cervantes

We were probably walking for only about 5 minutes when I spotted a beautiful palace of what I took at least 10 photos. It really fascinated me, especially because that year at the university we studied Architecture, and I was pretty much preoccupied on identifying the architectural styles and periods of the edifices.

posing with Reni

It didn’t took long until we reached the city center, and I have to admit: I didn’t know where to look! Reni and I were awestruck by the beauty that is the Old Town of Salamanca (no wonder it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site). I’ll only show you a few shots of it for now, because I’ve prepared a whole post on the Old Town itself!

half the facade of the church of La Clerecía, Salamanca

checking out the places to visit on the map from the tourist agency

between La Clerecía & Casa de las Conchas, Salamanca

We weren’t in a hurry anymore. We took our time and spent it drooling over the incredible buildings. I have never ever been in a place that has such a distinctiveness in its whole. You know how most cities stand out through one peculiar symbol (for ex.: the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Big Ben in London, etc.) But not Salamanca! You can not choose ONLY ONE building! Salamanca is a symbol in its total! I don’t know why we hear so rarely of it. I only heard of it as a University-city, and my dad recognized the name after its football team. But Salamanca is so much more than this! It is too underrated, I feel that we should know so much more about it!

Me and my roommates continued our path toward the Plaza Mayor, the main plaza (it seems that almost every Spanish city has one). It is practically a square, being surrounded by important buildings on all four sides.

Plaza Mayor Salamanca

City Hall of Salamanca

Because the Spanish terraces are soooo inviting, and we were tired and a bit overwhelmed by the sudden hot weather we decided to relax and have a cold beer on a terrace called Florida, nostalgically telling stories about all the adventures we had together 🙂

Spanish bars and terraces

After we got ourselves together a bit we visited the New Church of Salamanca, built in the 16th century. It was enormous and made quite the impression!

in front of the New Church of Salamanca with Adél

details..

from the inside

We paid a short visit to the university (one of the oldest in Europe):

University of Salamanca

Last but not least, for a small price of 3 Euros we decided to climb up the tower of the Old Church to see the view from up there. Best 3 Euros ever spent!

a bit of Salamanca

the New Church from the Old Church Tower

Even though Salamanca is pretty awesome in itself, the time I spent there would’ve never been so good if I hadn’t had these two with me: (so this road was never-ever meant to be traveled alone 🙂 )