Day 29 - Salamanca

When I was looking at a map of Spain before starting this trip I thought Salamanca would be the point where I felt I was on the home stretch. I have definitely made big inroads into the Spanish mainland but in reality I am under fifty miles past the halfway point of a 780 mile journey on foot. I still have to go around the top of Portugal before heading west to Santiago de Compostela so the end is still a while away. Not that I am complaining; I have seen some interesting and beautiful places and met some wonderful people and I am sure more is to come. In the meantime, today I spent my time enjoying further the delights of Salamanca.

I thought I had a late start this morning until I had been sitting in a cafe alone for half an hour before the morning rush began. Other than soaking up the city vibe I wanted to visit the two cathedrals that this city has - when the new cathedral was built in the 16th century it was decided to build alongside the older 12th century one rather than replace it - so it was to there I headed after coffee. The newer building is grand and impressive and I’m sure everything its architects intended it to be with its soaring stone columns and sense of space, the whole richly decorated with gold and brightly painted chapels. But I preferred the squat, simpler lines of the adjacent older cathedral, solid and reliable with it’s no nonsense stone walls decorated in places with faded paintings; a down to earth lady compared to her dandy neighbour next door. Afterwards I wandered the wide pedestrian streets of Salamanca, high walls either side holding the sun at bay. The streets would break out into large plazas, cypress trees and small green lawns at their centre. Around them churches, university buildings or old palaces, ornate and imposing. Salamanca is a city I would definitely return to.

New Cathedral 

Old Cathedral 

I finished the day by the Plaza Mayor sharing dinner with Eva, the Belgian cyclist I met four days ago; it is as busy in the evenings as it is during the day. Afterwards I wandered the teeming streets back towards my hotel for one more night of private comfort before I start walking again in the morning.