Visiting Salamanca
In this cosmopolitan city, there is an intrinsic relationship between tourism, culture, and leisure: in all three cases, they offer a very wide range. Tourists will find, as will the inhabitants of the Charro capital, countless points of interest to discover the history that led Salamanca to be what it is today. Moreover, they can visit them all on foot, as it is a small city settled on the banks of the Tormes River, which can be walked from one end to the other in a short time.
Everyone contributes, directly or indirectly, to giving Salamanca the appearance it has: a young, dynamic, and cheerful city, open to welcoming new people and students among the centuries-old buildings of its historic center, and sharing with them its heritage, its culture, and its Castilian-Leonese gastronomy. The light transforms both the interior and exterior; a single glow bathes the golden facades, and the characters who walked through the city throughout its history become present: Unamuno, Cervantes, Fray Luis de León, Menéndez Pelayo, Torrente Ballester, Lope de Vega…
Monuments of Salamanca
The capital of Salamanca has two cathedrals (the New and the Old), connected to each other and offering guided tours of their towers. They are worth visiting, especially at night. Both form the Patio Chico complex, and next to it is the Huerto de Calisto y Melibea, a splendid garden from which to contemplate the Tormes River, the city wall, and its two cathedrals. The Historical Memory Center is also a step away from the cathedrals on its way to the river, where the church of Santiago stands next to the famous pedestrian Roman Bridge.
Next to the Main Square, the heart of Salamanca, is the Clergy of the Pontifical University of Salamanca, also called the Church of the Royal College of the Society of Jesus and, next to it, the peculiar House of Shells from the 15th century. On its facade, more than 300 shells can be seen, and legend has it that one of them hides a gold coin underneath. Another interesting legend surrounds the famous University of Salamanca, the oldest in Spain, founded by Alfonso IX in 1218. Its facade is a spectacle, and with great effort, one can find a frog on a skull. Stories say that the student who manages to see the frog will find fortune during their exams.
The University Museum houses a work of great beauty: the Sky of Salamanca, by Fernando Gallego. Next to it is the Anaya Palace, and crossing San Pablo street leads to the Convent of San Esteban, the place where Christopher Columbus stayed when he came to present Salamanca with the project to undertake his voyage to the Indies.
