Salamancaaaaaa
Sorry for the short hiatus, but I'll try to update a lot now before our flight to Barcelona this afternoon.
So back to after the game: Since I went straight from the game go the apartment to the airport, I landed in Madrid still in my Barça jersey. Needless to say, I got a lot of funny and dirty looks from Madrileños. Oops! Haha.
Back at Tita Marilou's apartment, Javier, Bel and Quintin were there. We had breakfast together then I did some laundry and took a nap. At about 12:30, we headed to the bus station to catch our bus to Salamanca. We bought lunch at the station and ate aboard the bus. Ange's flight from Lisbon got delayed so she would just follow. The bus ride took us about three hours. We mostly ate and slept the whole ride. From the bus station in Salamanca we decided to take a taxi to our hostel. I watched the meter and it rose 5 cents every 10 seconds! Our total came out to about 4 euros which we split amongst us so it wasn't too bad. We dropped off our bags then headed out to explore.
We first walked to the Plaza Mayor. Each city in Spain has its own Plaza Mayor (Main Square) and the one of Salamanca is supposedly one of the prettiest. We also later found out that it was used in one of the scenes in the movie Vantage Point. The plaza was pretty, but because there was a book fair in the middle of the plaza, we didn't get the best view.
From the Plaza we walked to the Cathedrals. Salamanca has two side: la Catedral Vieja y la Catedral Nueva (the Old and New Cathedral). They were so so beautiful. (I wrote down in my notebook that they are my favorite so far, but it seems that with each city we visit, the cathedrals get more and more beautiful). Anyway, in the facade of the Old Cathedral amidst the carvings, there's supposed to be a carving of an astronaut and a dragon eating ice cream. When the church was destroyed and then rebuilt, the architect added these. We looked up and down the facade but couldn't find them! I even googled it but we still couldn't find it. Later on, we saw a group of tourists looking at something near the central door and when we went to check it out, there was the astronaut and the dragon. It's at eye-level pala! We were busy craning our necks up.
After the cathedrals we just decided to walk around the city. We walked around the university campuses and down the Puente Romano (Roman Bridge) to the other side of the city. You can get a great view of Salamanca from the other side of the river. (Unfortunately, since Ange wasn't with us, I took these pictures with my camera. And since I don't have a card reader, the pictures will have to wait!). We just walked around and around and headed back to the hotel near 8 to meet up with Ange.
Our hotel, by the way, was pretty small. We had a dorm room but since we got a form with 4 beds, it was just us in the room.
Ange's bus was taking quite awhile so we took a nap while waiting for her. She came a about 9 then we headed out for dinner. We went to Calle Van Dyck which is supposed to be a famous tapas bar street but for some reason, a lot of the bars and restaurants were closed. The others were too full. We walked down the road and ended up in a restaurant that sold some tapas for 1 euro. The servings were a bit small but we had a pitcher of sangria (which came with a helping of pork) for 7 euros. Not bad.
So back to after the game: Since I went straight from the game go the apartment to the airport, I landed in Madrid still in my Barça jersey. Needless to say, I got a lot of funny and dirty looks from Madrileños. Oops! Haha.
Back at Tita Marilou's apartment, Javier, Bel and Quintin were there. We had breakfast together then I did some laundry and took a nap. At about 12:30, we headed to the bus station to catch our bus to Salamanca. We bought lunch at the station and ate aboard the bus. Ange's flight from Lisbon got delayed so she would just follow. The bus ride took us about three hours. We mostly ate and slept the whole ride. From the bus station in Salamanca we decided to take a taxi to our hostel. I watched the meter and it rose 5 cents every 10 seconds! Our total came out to about 4 euros which we split amongst us so it wasn't too bad. We dropped off our bags then headed out to explore.
We first walked to the Plaza Mayor. Each city in Spain has its own Plaza Mayor (Main Square) and the one of Salamanca is supposedly one of the prettiest. We also later found out that it was used in one of the scenes in the movie Vantage Point. The plaza was pretty, but because there was a book fair in the middle of the plaza, we didn't get the best view.
From the Plaza we walked to the Cathedrals. Salamanca has two side: la Catedral Vieja y la Catedral Nueva (the Old and New Cathedral). They were so so beautiful. (I wrote down in my notebook that they are my favorite so far, but it seems that with each city we visit, the cathedrals get more and more beautiful). Anyway, in the facade of the Old Cathedral amidst the carvings, there's supposed to be a carving of an astronaut and a dragon eating ice cream. When the church was destroyed and then rebuilt, the architect added these. We looked up and down the facade but couldn't find them! I even googled it but we still couldn't find it. Later on, we saw a group of tourists looking at something near the central door and when we went to check it out, there was the astronaut and the dragon. It's at eye-level pala! We were busy craning our necks up.
After the cathedrals we just decided to walk around the city. We walked around the university campuses and down the Puente Romano (Roman Bridge) to the other side of the city. You can get a great view of Salamanca from the other side of the river. (Unfortunately, since Ange wasn't with us, I took these pictures with my camera. And since I don't have a card reader, the pictures will have to wait!). We just walked around and around and headed back to the hotel near 8 to meet up with Ange.
Our hotel, by the way, was pretty small. We had a dorm room but since we got a form with 4 beds, it was just us in the room.
Ange's bus was taking quite awhile so we took a nap while waiting for her. She came a about 9 then we headed out for dinner. We went to Calle Van Dyck which is supposed to be a famous tapas bar street but for some reason, a lot of the bars and restaurants were closed. The others were too full. We walked down the road and ended up in a restaurant that sold some tapas for 1 euro. The servings were a bit small but we had a pitcher of sangria (which came with a helping of pork) for 7 euros. Not bad.
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