After two fairly tough days, we were looking forward to a day off. Although by the end of a day full of walking and sightseeing and temperatures that got up to 32C, we were almost more tired than after a cycling day!

Back to yesterday, we started to explore this wonderful city. We had made good time into Salamanca and found our very comfortable apartment, so after a good rest and a blog writing session (because the blog does not write itself), we set out in the late afternoon to explore the city. It has been described as the most graceful city in Spain. Built mostly of sandstone, the old city glowed golden in the late afternoon sun. We strolled by building after building of incredible beauty, covered in carvings. Round every corner we saw a church, university building or merchant’s villa.  The intricate carvings on the exterior doors of the huge cathedral and the facade of the old university positively glowed. The huge Plaza Mayor, surrounded on all four sides by 4 story buildings was truly astounding and we could understand why it was described as the most beautiful and complete Plaza Mayor in Spain (and there is some serious competition for that accolade).

It all whetted our appetite for further exploration the next day – but in the meantime our appetite for some good Spanish food was also piqued. We hadn’t had a ‘posh’ meal in Spain yet but found a superb meal at Orovieja. David had perfect steak and I had Turbot with saffron sauce, with a lovely bottle of Verdejo, a local white wine from Valladolid. Sipping the final drops sitting in a small square, still warm at 11pm, was perfect. We were almost on a Spanish timetable!

So on to today. There was so much to see but the Cathedral(s) was a must. In fact the building consists of two interconnected cathedrals. The old Romanesque cathedral (C13th) and ‘New’ cathedral (C16th). As the ‘new’ cathedral took almost 200 years to complete the whole building has a huge range of styles.  Medieval cathedrals were covered in walls painted to the stories of the gospels to a largely illiterate congregation, and some of these painted walls survive in the oldest parts of the cathedral.  Overall, we found the old cathedral restful, graceful and with some incredible C13th murals. 

There was a real contrast with the ‘new’ cathedral which was on a much grander scale, had walls and ceilings of astonishing scale, but was stuffed full of over the top baroque statutes, chapels and tombs (to our eye anyway).  It had less of a coherent feel and it was not clear how it could be used for mass participation services.  However we wondered at the carved wooden choir stalls with 2 amazing organs (one of the oldest in Europe); seeing those were worth the visit in themselves.

After all that baroque it was time for a rest and an excellent coffee sitting in the Cathedral square (Starbucks note – better than your coffee and only 2 euros each). What to chose next was difficult.

Salamanca is one of the oldest universities in Europe, founded in 1218, but there are only two main university buildings left. Any independent thought had been crushed by the extreme clerical orthodoxy in the 17^th and 18^th centuries and by the end of the Napoleonic invasion and wars of the early 19^th century, almost all the student buildings were destroyed and there were only 300 students left.  The university is now revived and students hum around the city, possibly outnumbering tourists at this time of year. Much of the university buildings are in academic use and closed to visitors but we looked at the outside of the university buildings and decided to climb the ‘Scala Coeli’ – the ‘stairway to heaven- up the twin towers of La Clericia next to the university. Some very creeky wooden steps took us up the tower.  Panting from the climb and feeling daunted by the exposure, we were greeted by magnificent views over the city.  My (Bernie) irrational fear of heights had me clinging to the back wall at times!

We strolled back to the apartment, pausing to buy Hornazo – a traditional layered pie – in this case with pork, beef and chorizo. A very filing lunch. We rested through the heat of the afternoon but it was still 30 degrees at 5pm. Nevertheless we wandered back through the old town to do something more contemporary and visit the Museum of Art Deco and Art Nouveau.  They helpfully had panels explaining the difference between Art Deco and Art Nouveau, which helped us understand what was going on. The mansion of Casa Lis had been built by a wealthy Art Nouveau fanatic at the beginning of the C20th. He died soon after completing the collection and the house changed to multiple uses and eventually fell into decay.  The Salamanca municipality took it over in the 1980s to create the museum. The house has a fantastic coloured glass roof and walls and is full of art deco and art nouveau artefacts – picture, furniture, porcelain, glass, bronze, jewellery, dolls and a large room of mechanical dolls. Some objects really beautiful and so typical of the style,. Some we found rather more grotesque. As a whole it was a great little visit and wrapped up our sightseeing for the day.