Salamanca

This weekend we ventured off to Salamanca for a day trip. We headed out of here in the morning and took a bus as a group. On the way there, we stopped in the town of Avila, which was beautiful. They have a wall around the city that dates back to the 12th century. Also this is where St. Teresa of Avila came from, so that was also really neat! On the trip, my professor’s little daughter Lucia came on the trip too, and she basically clung to me the entire time we were there! Salamanca was so beautiful. When we got off the bus, there was a lovely river and it was all sunny and warm! Salamanca has the most famous college in all of Spain and this is where anyone who was anyone in the academic world of Spain went to school! I know that Cervantes studied there, and I heard more people but I can’t remember their names-my teacher would be so disappointed! The first place we stopped at was the Cathedral and it was absolutely gorgeous! The architecture and art was stunning. It followed more of a gothic style of architecture, hence there was more light in the space-which I liked better than some of the others I have seen. After we walked around a bit, we got to climb the tower of the cathedral and see the view from the top-and our advisor, Gladys, taught us all about the toxicity of pigeon poop and how it has been so bad for the preservation of these monuments and buildings-who knew that pigeons could cause even more serious problems than just being annoying? Oh the things you learn! When we got to the top of the cathedral, the view was lovely! All of the buildings were cream with red roofs, and instead of it being all city, there were green rolling hills in the background. It was very European. After wards, we went outside to view the Façade that was on the exterior of the church. During one of the renovations during the last century, they updated two small statues which adorn the cathedral with all of the angels and saints. One is an astronaut-the other is a dragon eating an ice cream! How quirky! Then we went to the Plaza Mayor to sit in the sun and eat our bagged lunches-packed by our host moms! :) The weather was so nice and there were a ton of people that were sitting out there enjoying the weather as well. We had a bit of free time then to explore the city and see the shops etc. Our last stop was the University-which I had mentioned earlier! They also have a façade on the outside, and there is a small frog located somewhere amongst the figures, and if you find it-it is said that you will have good luck for the rest of the year….well I couldn’t find it without the help of my professor-so maybe I will be partially lucky-we’ll see! After our adventures in Salamanca we headed home and enjoyed the sights and sunset of a peaceful evening!