La Ciudad Dorada: Salamanca

One of Spain's most popular puentes (long weekend) is the Puente de la Constitución y la Inmaculada. Both days are national holidays with Día de la Constitución (Constitution Day) on the 6th of December and Día de la Inmaculada (Immaculate Conception) on the 8th. Usually, the 7th becomes a day off too and Spaniards get a long weekend. Nice and Lia, two friends from my university in the Philippines who are currently auxiliars in Huelva, told me that they would be going to Salamanca for the puente, so I decided to join them that weekend. I arrived in Salamanca on Saturday morning and Lia and Nice picked me up at the bus station. It was so nice to see familiar Filipino faces!

We first had breakfast at Café Real, right at Plaza Mayor. I was surprised at how cheap it was, considering it was in a prime location (€1,60 for a café con leche and a tapa of your choice). With some coffee and food in our stomachs we got right to talking and catching up, and it was non stop laughter and kwentuhan for the rest of the day. Stomachs satisfied, we started our day of exploring Salamanca. First up was none other than the beautiful Plaza Mayor. Sevilla's Plaza España would still be my favorite plaza in Spain, but I'd have to say that Salamanca's Plaza Mayor comes a close second. Coupled with the amazing weather, Plaza Mayor seemed extra beautiful that day. (Speaking of the weather, it was truly gorgeous. It stayed in the teens throughout the day, and the sun was always out. If you ask Lia and Nice, they can tell you that I did not shut up about the good weather all day long. Haha.)

The main façade of the plaza with the clock tower

We stayed long enough to snap more photos than we needed, including this one below. When Nice posted it on Facebook, she captioned it the tres presidentas, which I didn't realize at that time. All three of us were presidents of UP Círculo Hispánico, a student organization in our university in the Philippines. Who would've thought that one day we would all be meeting up in Spain!

Nice (2012-2013), Me (2013-2014), Lia (2011-2012)

From Plaza Mayor, it was off to see the Catedral. Salamanca technically has two cathedrals: la Catedral Nueva (the New Cathedral) y la Catedral Vieja (the Old Cathedral), but they are right beside each other and are connected.

The sky was actually a very lovely blue, but I'm not good at manipulating the settings on my camera

We got a nice lady to snap our picture in front of the doors

The Old Cathedral was built in the 12th century in Romanesque style, while the New Cathedral was built during the 16th-18th centuries in Gothic and Baroque styles. In 1992, restorations were done on the cathedrals and the chief restorer decided to add two modern carvings to one of the façades: an astronaut and a gargoyle eating ice cream.

They're to the left of the door, can you see them in the picture below?

After spotting both of them, we paid the €4 discounted fee and in we went to explore. It was a beautiful cathedral, I can't help but always look up and admire the ceilings and vaults.

After walking around inside, we admired the outside of the cathedral.

You can't help but stare in awe at the intricate carvings.

We continued to walk around the city and got to see why Salamanca is nicknamed La Dorada or "the golden one:" for its sandstone buildings and the glow it gives off.  In fact, in 1988, the city was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Again, coupled with the gorgeous weather, it made for a lovely stroll around the city.

Sandstone buildings and cobblestone streets

Our next stop was Casa Lis, home of the Museo de Art Nouveau y Art Déco. From the outside the building actually looked somewhat abandoned/closed, but we went around anyway to check if it was open.

Casa Lis

It was open; we headed in (for €2), and it was truly beautiful. The Casa Lis was a private mansion built by Don Miguel de Lis who fell in love with art nouveau on his travels around Europe. It was designed by architect Don Joaquin de Vargas, and the ceiling and windows had the most gorgeous mosaics. It's a shame we weren't allowed to take pictures because it's seriously too beautiful to describe. I snagged this picture from Google; see how gorgeous it is?

Source

In 1992, the building was turned into a museum, and currently has a permanent collection of decorative arts. There was also a temporary exhibition when we visited called "Libros vivos", which was about pop-up books, and was actually quite interesting. While touring, we stopped outside the terrace from the cafeteria, I snapped a picture of these windows from there.

Close up of the windows

By now we were quite hungry, so we looked for a place to eat that was recommended by Nice and Lia's hostel. We walked up and down the streets but couldn't find the particular restaurant, so we just settled at one of the café-bars along the main road. Stomachs satisfied, we then headed the Puente Romano (Roman Bridge) to catch the sunset. We arrived quite early, but just chilled at the bridge talking and talking pictures.

Gorgeous light

The Cathedral from the bridge

Picture taking time

Picture taking time

On our way back, we passed by one of the buildings of the University of Salamanca. This university is one of the oldest universities of Spain. Salamanca's university is very popular, and has many students, both Spanish and international. 

The façade of one of the buildings

 This building, in particular the façade is famous for a frog carving perched atop one of the skulls on the façade. Legend goes that if students of the university find the frog, they will have good luck! The frog has since become the unofficial mascot of Salamanca and you will find frog keychains, postcards and whatnot in any souvenir store you visit.

Tourists looking for the frog

We continued walking around the city (doing a bit of shopping as well). Since it was a puente (long weekend), there were actually a lot of people in Salamanca. But for me, it didn't feel very crowded, and it made the city all the more vibrant. Along the main streets were many bars with people sitting in the tables outside plus the Christmas lights were lit up; it made for such a pretty sight and stroll.

Vibrant Salamanca

We popped by Plaza Mayor again to see it lit up. This picture below doesn't do it justice; it's so much more beautiful in person. According to Wikipedia (haha!) the plaza is "an irregular square and none of its facades measure the same height." Quite interesting.

We ended the night with some paella; it was Nice and Lia's first paella in Spain. We decided to order a paella valenciana and a paella mixta and share it. We asked the waiter to recommend us a sweet red wine, and he brought us a bottle of Málaga's dulce vino. I actually didn't like the dulce vino I tried in Málaga last year, but this one was really yummy.

Delicious!

Paella + wine + good company. A winning combination.

We were in the restaurant for a good chunk of time just talking, laughing, ranting, sharing stories, and laughing some more. We headed back to our hostels past midnight to catch some sleep for the next day's adventure to Segovia. :)