Hola otro vez! :)
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| The Monastery! |
March 3rd our school had another excursion, this time to the city of Salamanca. It's located about an hour and fifteen minutes away from Valladolid, so it wasn't too much of a bus ride! There was a small group of us who elected to spend the night in Valladolid, and come back on Sunday. We heard the city had a great night experience because it is home to many international students! We also knew it was a larger city and wanted Sunday to walk around to see more of the city than what we had time for on Saturday.
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| Cathedral! |
Anyway in the morning, with our professors, we took a guided tour along the small windy streets of Salamanca, and we had a great tour of the Cathedral. It's a really unique cathedral in that there are 2 actual buildings built right next to eachother. The old cathedral was built in what is called the
Romanico style, and the new is built in the typical
Gotico style. The new, or second cathedral was built using an original wall from the old cathedral. It's really cool because you can see the difference between the two churches standing in one spot!
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| The Cathedral from the Park! |
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| The dove in the middle of the yellow circle at the top of the dome is the size of a car. It just shows you how tall and incredible these buildings really are!! |
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| Casa de las Conchas |
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| Plaza Mayor! |
We also saw other highlights such as the
Casa de las Conchas. It's said that there is a pure gold note hidden under one of the shells on the outside of the house, but I guess not many people believe it! (I sure don't!) Anyway, we had a lot of free time on this excursion, and we wandered around the city looking at interesting buildings such as the monastery, and what's considered the most beautiful Plaza Mayor here in Spain. Even though it is beautiful, it's kind of boring...because the whole plaza is one solid color. It's all tan. It's got wonderful architecture, but lacks flair, in my opinion. However, it is most definitely gorgeous at night when it's all lit up - that's a sight I won't forget seeing!
The plaza mayor is decorated all around with medallions of influential people in Spain's history, including King Ferdinand, Queen Isabella, and you guessed it, Dictator Franco. Though, his medallion looks a bit different than the rest because it's created out of molded easy to clean plastic to stand up to the vandalism. In fact, while we were there, it was stained purple because of the red paint people throw at it. Some people don't believe Franco should be included in the Plaza Mayor because of his dictatorship, but like it or not, he's a famous character in Spain's history...they didn't decide to only remember the GOOD influential people. Sometimes, you've got to take the good with the bad. Anyway, bullfights were also often held in the Plaza Mayor, with the last ceremonial
corrida (bullfight) taking place in 1992.
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| The University Facade! |
We also saw the university in Salamanca, being one of the oldest in Spain. It includes a facade with the
Reyes Católicos, and their shields. It also has religious scenes on it, because what would it be without it? :) Every where you look here in Spain, you'll find some sort of religious themes. It's such a huge influential part of their history.
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| The Roman Bridge |
The following day, my friends and I wandered through some parks, and we found the river with the famous statue of the bull by it! (It's from a novel we read in literature). We also saw a Roman bridge, and sampled some interesting food. (More on that, later!)
Anyway, our trip to Salamanca was super fun, and I'm really glad I spent the night and was able to see more of the city! It was neat because I remembered a lot from the last time I was there, and I even found the apartment building where I lived for 3 days in 2006!
I shall update soon with more trips and experiences!
besos y abrazos,
Erin (ps - I also convinced a man in Salamanca that I was a Spaniard, and he believed me!!! My Spanish must be getting better!!)
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