Salamanca =D
It a 2.5 hour journey from Madrid. I travelled by bus to Salamanca as they have regular trips there. I love this bus' service. The bus is very comfortable and spacious. It costs roughly around €17 (express) for one way. If you choose the normal route, it's about €13 or so. The €13 bus is a little less spacious, but still good. I didn't like the bus I took to Granada - Auto-Continental..was a little stuffy.. Auto Res Avanza's good!
Woot! Welcome to Salamanca! There's a bull cut-out everytime you enter a different city - once I saw a cactus and cowboy cut-out..dunno what they meant by that..
This is the university's wall - Universidad de Salamanca. At this wall, there is a 'la rana de suerte' - a lucky frog. It's uber tiny as the wall is massive! This pic probably is a bad one to start searching for the frog.. but if you find the frog, it's supposed to give you good luck in your studies (since this is a university's wall..)
Here's a clearer shot..try searching for the froggy! (Hint:It's on a skull >.<). The beauty of the university is that the university's buildings are all over Salamanca, hence getting the name 'University City". So when I'm having classes, I can hear the street musicians outside, or traffic. It's cool =) There are cafes all around and it's very happening..everybody seems to be relaxing and having a great time.
I was fortunate enough to have my Spanish teacher who taught me when i was in university (in my own country), to come visit in Salamanca. He spent about a day showing us around Salamanca. It's a small city, so we could walk everywhere by foot. He's a Spaniard and it was great, cuz he could tell and elaborate more at the buildings that we saw. It was really funny, after he left, my friend an I took other students whom we befriended there for a tour. haha should've charged eh?
This is the old cathedral,
..and this is the new cathedral..according to my teacher, he said the Spanish do not like to let go of their past..so when they build something new, they wont destroy the old one..instead the build the new one next to the old one. Classic example here. The buildings are all made from materials that are only found in this region(Sorry forgot what it was called). The ambience in the Churches in Salamanca (and neighbouring cities) are very solemn, and dark. There isn't much light inside, save a few candles that the faithfuls light. These pics were taken around..8-9 something at night..it was just about to get into night time..the buildings glowed a golden tint all around..loved it =)
At the wall of the new Cathedral, they have a lot of carvings. The are a few new carvings on it. They added an astronaut (to celebrate Man's technology), the Bull (a very spanish representative), a demon holding an ice-cream cone (im not so sure about this - is it even a cone?) and the Iberian Lynx cat - from the Iberian Peninsular (Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar - Thank you Wikipedia), and critically endangered.
and this is the 'conejo de suerte' - the lucky rabbit (yes i do not know why there are so many lucky animals around, too). It is also found on the wall of the New Cathedral. Rub its head and you'll get good luck. Yes I did rub the mammal..a few times, even on the rump! LoL. A drunk outside the church told my classmate and I about it when I took her to see the new carvings. And he expected money from us for telling us that! uff!! nope we didn't pay =p
This is the gorgeous Plaza Mayor..Lots of cafes, souvenior shops and ice cream shops around. Please remember to stop by Heladeria Novelty - They make the best helados (home made ice-cream). Was addicted to it =p Costs around €1.20 per cone. YUMMIELICIOUS!
At nights, the university's singing group sings at the Plaza Mayor..the are called the Las Tunas..they were really cool. Garbed in what looked to me, medieval ages costumes;;they belt out songs accompanied by guitars and tambourines ..it was funny to see grown men in tights .. but they sang awesome!
Río Tormes (
This is a 2,000 year-old bridge that goes over the river. The Roman bridge was so strong that it was opened for cars to drive through until only 10 years ago. The Romans are sure great architects!
This is an old Roman ruin that is near the bridge. They still have not found out what animal it was supposed to represent. Some said it was a bear, some a bull, one even said that it was an elephant!
There's a great grassy area near the bridge where you can hang out or laze about. There's a tree that has sweet smelling flowers that grows there as well.
Ahh Summer's bliss..
There is also a building which is called Casa de las Conchas (House of Shells) - it's now the public library as well as the tourist information centre.
During summer they have the Rebajas (Sales) and the crowd goes into a frenzy! H&M's very popular there and they have great discounts. I didn't get the urge to buy anything though..although i was seriously contemplating getting that rogueberry perfume at Body Shop (sucker for BShop here!) but i resisted the temptation! I kept calculating back to my local currency hehe
Anyway, this is a little of Salamanca. It is a great place to learn Spanish there - the teachers I had were great and I guess those who likes to party can find a few clubs that they might like. I heard there's also a Salsa club forgot what it's called.
Next entry : Food!
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