My visit to Salamanca was actually not a planned one, and the city (which I had heard a lot of good things about) happened to be on the way back to Madrid after a week long road trip to Portugal. And so it was just a stop off to provide a much needed break on a seven hour drive. It turned out to be so much better and more than that!
Medieval history mixed with the warmth of the Spanish
From the moment I entered the city, I could feel it had a special type of atmosphere, and driving past soaring city walls, the Roman bridge and open plazas made me incredibly excited to explore this city.
We found an excellent Airbnb in the centre of the city, about 10 minutes walk to the central square (Plaza Major), and I would almost always advise people to have a look at what apartments are available for what price, before looking for a hotel. The owner of the apartment gave us some great recommendations for eating, and led to us finding the little square you can see in the photo above and right, where a relaxed and quiet acoustic band were playing beautiful songs, and the food was incredible and cheap.
I've said it before, but Salamanca only strengthens my feeling that Spain is the best country in the world at lighting important buildings. The people in charge of this valuable task seem to have an understanding about how to create dramatic shapes and highlight the already stunning architecture and history.
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Joe Thorpe
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