We’re indulging in a Happiness Project……..
On a rainy, wet Thursday, with the clouds hanging low in the sky, Eileen pointed her nose due west and we headed along the Duero Valley towards Valladolid. We passed more vineyards stretched across the wide valley and up the slopes on either side. And the drizzle kept drizzling. We had planned to see Valladolid, where Peter The Cruel got married, but the rain was annoying us, so we passed by and stopped at Tordesillas for a short stroll and the purchase of some lemons and chicken. We saw the house where the 1494 treaty was passed between Portugal and Spain, dividing up the new world between them; unsurprisingly there were a lot of school children passing through. From there we continued on to Salamanca . So many people have said to us “You must go to Salamanca, it’s lovely”, so tomorrow we’ll catch a bus from Camping Reggio and see the city for ourselves.
At 7:30am I woke up to the words “It’s so dark in the mornings” and I have to say, it really is. Spain seems to run to a different timetable than anywhere else in the world. They get up late, have lunch in the middle of the afternoon and then eat dinner after 10pm in the evening. Maybe it’s because it is so dark until 8am and doesn’t get dark again until after 9pm, at this time of year. Village, town and city residents don’t seem to move before 11am and then come alive after 5pm; it’s all very strange to us and does take some getting used to.
So when the green love heart leaves hanging on the tree above us, came in to daylight focus, we finally crawled out of our cosy bed, showered, ate and then caught the bus from Santa Marta de Tormes into the heart of Salamanca. We started our tour with churros and chocolate, sitting by the window in the Café Royal in the Plaza Mayor. We had three sticks each and the hot chocolate was really thick and delicious, mmm, mmm. I could do this every day……
And then we wandered and wandered, vaguely following the Michelin Green Guide to take in all the major sights. The 16th C Casa Muertes (House of Death) was not as scary as expected having only two skulls on the walls; less than one of the churches that we came across later. But the 15th C Casa de las Conchas (House of Shells) was well and truly covered in cockle shells; more than 400 apparently, no I didn’t bother to count them all, it’s in the book.
We poked our noses inside churches and museums and then found ourselves at the old and the new cathedrals. Curiously the 12thC Catedral Vieja has the 16thC Catedral Nueva joined to it and to get inside the old one you have to go through the new one. But we had a different plan. We paid to go up the Bell Tower. The 140 steps take you higher and higher, in and out of small rooms, across rooftops, out on to balconies overlooking plazas and also along internal galleries that give the most wonderful views down in to the naves of both cathedrals. Whenever I go into cathedrals I always fancy going up to those hidden levels and balconies that you see, but they’re always behind locked doors, so this was really lovely to finally be up so high and looking down on the interior of two cathedrals. Finally, at the very top in the open, windy, bell-tower the views over the city were pretty extensive.
With everything now closing down for the afternoon, we whiled away nearly two-hours eating a three-course lunch in the Café Corrillo in the Plaza San Benito and then wobbled out with very full tummies and a dire need for more walking to burn it off. By 6:30pm we felt we’d seen all we wanted to see and caught the bus back to the campsite. The only problem we found in Salamanca, “I’m sorry, there are no public toilets in Salamanca”. I was a bit bamboozled when the lady at the tourist office gave me that information. So I ducked into McDonalds, as one does in times of need, only to discover they didn’t have a toilet either! Thank god for Burger King; they had two!
Fabulous enjoy