Temp 21 mainly sunny with intermittent cloud

We found a café nearby and near the Plaza Mayor for breakfast. We thought it odd that the area was full of police and people who were part of the Red Cross. As it turned out there was a marathon (or possibly half marathon) happening and the runners were going past us and into the Plaza. We are becoming experts at watching marathons with a coffee in one hand and a croissant in the other aren’t we Shelley?

As the last person ran past we hit the pavement for a full day of exploring. Old Salamanca is very compact but it is almost like walking through a maze with lots of little narrow alleyways off a couple of main streets.

We visited another cathedral and no doubt there will be many more. This time there were two cathedrals joined at the hip – the old one constructed in the 12th century and (what they call) their NEW cathedral constructed in the 16th century. Old and Older might have been more appropriate terms certainly for someone from our part of the world. Access to the old cathedral was only through the new one and there was a charge for this as it is now basically a museum. As usual there is always work going on keeping old buildings in reasonable shape and one of the upgrades to the new cathedral was the controversial inclusion, by a capricious restorer, of an astronaut in one of the reliefs near an entrance doors. The locals were originally unhappy but are now ok with it, explained away as “he is the person closest to God”.

Near the cathedral was the university, the oldest university Spain established in 1230. It was one of Europe’s leading centres of learning for 400 years. Apparently Columbus came here for travel tips. There is a very ornate entrance to the University which has a very obscure frog carved into it. Legend has it that if you can find the frog on your first try you will pass all your exams and have a successful university career. We would have failed as we needed some assistance.

One of the buildings of the university is the La Clerecia. We did not go through this as it had to be on a tour and all the tours were in Spanish. We were able to go up one of the towers and have a look at the city. While up there we noticed two nests of storks on the opposite tower. One of the storks had just returned to the nest with food – what a racket from the young ones.

Opposite the University church is the House of Shells, our next visit. Now a library this building was built for a professor of medicine and doctor at court who was chancellor of the order of St. James (Santiago) the symbol of which is the scallop shell also worn by hikers and pilgrims walking the St. James Way (Camino de Santiago).

Finally we went down to the bottom of the town and the Tormes river to see the Roman bridge built in 1st century BC. Not an impressive bridge height wise but certainly a long one, 356 meters comprising 15 arches, and in very good shape.

Back to hotel where we sorted out the wifi and preparation for leaving tomorrow for Santiago de Compostela.