Weekends are for car trips so we piled into the SUV and headed three hours north and west to the university town of Salamanca. The university is Spain’s oldest and is also the third oldest in Europe. Although our walking tour was not in our native language, we understood enough and our friends interpreted the rest. The city dates back to the Iron Age, since then the region had many other settlers pass through including the Romans, Visigoths, Vandals and Moors. All have added to the rich culture of the city.
The University of Salamanca was founded in the 12th Century and has continued to maintain its prestigious reputation. Our tour brought to our attention some interesting architectural details including a type of decorative arch that is only seen in Salamanca.
Also, the university chapel artwork did not focus on religion but on the stars and science. A fire destroyed half of the original dome; the other half as been restored, relocated to a nearby museum and is remarkable. An extra bonus was getting a glimpse of a bride and groom leaving the new university chapel.
Along with the impressive buildings and grounds of the university, the city has an interesting architectural heritage, for example, the two cathedrals, old and new, which appear to be joined together are comprised of a mishmash of styles including Gothic, Romanesque and Baroque, which is understandable because the construction took almost 300 years. The doorway arches of the new cathedral look typical from a distance, however upon close inspection there are some modern and entertaining details, including an astronaut and a gremlin.
The Casa de las Concha’s building, is another interesting architectural design, there are more than 300 scallop shells on the building.
A delicious lunch at Corta & Cata included scallops and other typical Spanish dishes. Following lunch, we took the advice of some local students and went to Umami, an artisanal ice cream shop, we ate our ice creams too quickly to take a photo.
Sunday we drove two more hours north to León, another beautiful city with history dating back before the Roman Empire. Once again, our tour was in Spanish, though we managed to understand the heritage of buildings and churches that span half a millennium of styles. There is even a building that was completed early in Gaudi’s career. Casa Botines was initially built as a residence with a warehouse for fabrics, it later became a savings bank.
This provincial capital was founded as an encampment for Roman legions, but over the centuries the Latin name for this legionary town (Legio) converged with the word for lion (leon) in Spanish. A purple lion is now the city’s symbol. León is on the route of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, the French Way, and we spotted many scallop shells marking the route along with a Roman footprint or two.
The streets are wide and inviting with colorful buildings adorned with flowers. The shops and restaurants are abundant and inviting. There is a street known for easy bar-hopping and tapas munching. It was so hot we opted for indoor dining.
The French-inspired gothic cathedral is massive with double decker wall-to-wall stained glass windows and a huge organ. This has been a favorite resting spot for pilgrims on the Camino for centuries.
The ride south back to Madrid went quickly as we passed fields of blooming sunflowers, orchards of olive trees and the vineyards of Rueda. We enjoyed stepping back in history and exploring beautiful cities.
Where is Wendy 