La Vida Diaria en Salamanca

To me, there is a marked difference between being just an ordinary tourist, visiting a city for a few days, and actually living life there. When you only have a few days in a place, you naturally go to see its most famous landmarks, which in European cities usually consist of cathedrals, churches, castles, and other historic buildings. After you've seen those things though, and once you really start living there, you start thinking about other (probably less exciting) pursuits. Since my time in Salamanca is almost at an end, that will be what this post is about: what to do in Salamanca besides the typical sightseeing.

First off, of course, is the food.

If you want to be the typical American tourist, you could stop by McDonalds (where they do have cerveza on the menu, by the way):



Or to be a bit more authentic, you could get a bocadillo at a local café:



You could go to a nice sit-down restaurant and get various plates:



Or, like us below, you could try Spanish paella, a saffron rice dish with either mariscos, verduras, or carne:



And in the paella de mariscos, you definitely know you're eating seafood. In Spain the heads of shrimp and crayfish are not removed as a sign of freshness. When the heads are left on, they go bad faster, therefore it shows that they were caught more recently. Below, my friend Erica demonstrates the shrimp's "freshness":



You could also try hornazo, Salamanca's specialty food:



You could get some helado, which is similar to Italian gelato:



And you can always eat on the Plaza Mayor:



If you're getting sick of eating only Spanish food, Salamanca also has Italian, Mexican, Japanese, Indian, and even Chinese restaurants to choose from:



And of course, you can't go to Spain without trying churros con chocolate. (Spanish churros are dipped in chocolate, opposed to Mexican churros which are normally covered in sugar and cinnamon):

In Spain, restaurant customs are somewhat different than in the U.S., leading many American tourists to (falsely) conclude that Spaniards are rude. When you sit down at a restaurant in Spain, the waiter will come up and either not say anything, or simply ask ¿Qué quieren Ustedes?, opposed to in the United States where we are accostumed to a long spiel something like "Hi my name is Rob and I'm going to be your server today. The specials on our menu are this, this, this, and this. How can I get you started?" Spaniards are known for being direct.

After getting something to eat, you could also go shopping in Salamanca. You could take the bus out to the Centro Comercial El Tormes:



Or, if you prefer to stay downtown, you could shop at H&M (it was in Spain before it was in the U.S.!):



If you want to spend more money on fashion, there's always Zara, a Spanish clothing company:



After spending all that money, you might need to go to the banco:



And maybe then pick up a few groceries at the supermercado (their strawberries were amazing!):





If you want to buy books, you'd need to go to a librería:



You might also feel like going to get a haircut:



Or going online at a locutorio, or internet café:



Spain, like most of Europe, is also very good about sorting trash and recycling:





You could mail a letter:



Or receive one:

As far as nightlife, Salamanca has a lot to offer as well. In fact, Spaniards go out later than people from almost every other country in the world. A typical Spanish evening would consist of going out to eat dinner around 9pm, after finishing work, and then going to take a paseo, walk, around the city. You might then go to get ice cream, stop in other pubs or bars, and if you wanted to make it a late night, go to a discoteca to dance until dawn. It's not uncommon in Spain to see families with young children walking around the Plaza Mayor after midnight.

The Plaza Mayor at night:



A Tuna, or traditional student musical group, was playing in the plaza so I took a movie:

If you like Latin dancing, like salsa, merengue, and bachata, you could go to El Savor, a discoteca that often has live bands earlier on in the night:



Click below for a video:



Or you could always go to a Juanes concert, if you don't mind traveling to one of Spain's larger cities to see him:

Salamanca has a ton to offer. Now I just have a few last pictures of some landmarks that I didn't quite get to last time, such as the famous Puente Romano over the Río Tormes:

Salamanca's medieval streets:



And my personal favorite church, the iglesia de San Martín, a small romanesque church that has slanted walls due to its age and the massive earthquake that hit the Iberian Peninsula in the 18th century:

Granada y Toledo

After Córdoba, we went to Granada, another city in Andalucía, but farther to the east. Granada is most known for the Alhambra palace, a magnificent royal palace built by the Moors centuries ago that I believe was recently named one of the wonders of the modern world. Since I didn't go to it this time, due to the fact I'll be there again in two weeks and that I had lots and lots of homework (yes, homework!) to do, so wait for another entry later detailing it. In Granada, however, I did walk around and explore a bit:

Near the Cathedral is a market area filled with souvenirs and imports from Morocco:



There were spices:



Strange shoes:



And oddly enough, Mexican sombreros (no idea what Mexican souvenirs were doing in Spain, it was strange):

In the evening, we went to a flamenco performance near the Alhambra. The Alhambra was beautiful, lit up at night:



Us in front of the Alhambra:

Although the flamenco performance we went to was definitely targeted at tourists, it was still very good. It had a lot of variety and several dancers. Flamenco dancing is an integral part of southern Spanish culture, and involves lots of clapping, stamping, arm movements, guitar, and singing.

One of the flamenco dancers at the performance:





Click below to watch a movie of part of the flamenco performance. How do you think it compares with the more authentic flamenco that we saw in Sevilla?

The next day, we started the long drive back to Salamanca, but we stopped briefly in Toledo along the way. For many tourists, Toledo makes an interesting day trip from Madrid. Although it has an impressive Cathedral, El Greco museum, and Alcázar, Toledo is probably best known for its swordmaking. In fact, when I went there years ago with my family, my brother purchased a large sword that he now has somewhere in his bedroom...just in case, I guess =)

The city of Toledo with its Alcázar and Tajo river (the same river that goes through Lisboa):



The Cathedral in Toledo:



The Synagogue in Toledo:



And interestingly, a street named in honor of Toledo, Ohio! There are over 50 cities around the world named after Toledo, Spain:



Toledo is also known for its damasqueños, a local style of craftmanship using gold leaf embedded in intricate designs:

Toledo is located a few hours south of Madrid, in Castilla-La Mancha: the land of Don Quijote. Don Quijote is a two part novel written by Cervantes in the early 17th century, detailing the adventures of a man who wants to be a knight but fails humorously. The most famous scene of the book has him jousting windmills, thinking they are giants. The book has been translated into more languages than any other book in the world, except the Bible, and Don Quijote is considered the literary symbol of Spain. If you've ever heard of Man of la Mancha, it deals with Don Quijote in the form of a musical.

Throughout Toledo, there are signs on buildings that supposedly tell you the route Don Quijote traveled on his adventures:

We were hungry, so we spent most of our time in Toledo eating lunch at a café on the Plaza de Zocodóver, often called the Plaza de McDonalds:

We also ate some dulces typical of Toledo, including yemas (a sugary sweet made of egg yolks):

And mazapán, almond pastry that Toledo is quite famous for:

After Toledo we endured a long bus ride back to Salamanca. This weekend I'm going to Asturias, which is in northern Spain, and then on Monday off to Germany! I can't believe the month has flown by so fast. I will keep updating this as much as possible, and will post my videos once I find internet that is capable of it.

Sevilla y Córdoba

This weekend, we took a trip to Andalucía, the most southern region of Spain. We went to Sevilla, Córdoba, Granada, and stopped briefly in Toledo on the way back to Salamanca. Andalucía is the land of Moorish architecture, flamenco dancing, and hot weather. It was over 40˚C most of our time there, which is well into the 90s Fahrenheit.

Our first stop in Sevilla was the Plaza de España, a large plaza and walkway that commemorates each province of Spain. For me the coolest thing about this place is that as you walk around, you can find a tiled area for each province's capital. Of course, since Salamanca is the capital of the province of Salamanca, we made sure to find it.

Plaza de España:





Erica and I at the Salamanca area:



We also saw lots of ábanicos for sale at stands near the Plaza de España:

After that, we went to Sevilla's historic center to see the Cathedral, La Giralda, and the old moorish palace, the Alcázar. Sevilla is Spain's third largest city, after Madrid and Barcelona, and is also Spain's most dangerous city (although as long as you're smart, you shouldn't get into any trouble). Sevilla's cathedral is arguably the biggest cathedral in the world, in terms of volumn, and the famous bell tower was originally built to fit a Muslim Mosque. Now, it supposedly holds the remains of Christopher Columbus (although a few other sites around the world claim to as well, I believe). It's very impressive inside, but as this was my third time in Sevilla, we didn't really feel like going in. Here's a view from the outside:

Just past La Giralda is the Royal Alcázar of Sevilla. This Moorish palace, begun in the 15th century, is a beautiful example of mudéjar (Moorish) architecture and is reminiscent of the larger and even more impressive Alhambra palace in Granada.

Moorish architecture in the interior of the palace:

A walkway in the gardens:



A duck in the gardens:



A cafe in the gardens that was abierto, or open:

After eating dinner at the hotel, we went to a flamenco bar called La Carbonería. I found the place after having gone to it the last time I was in Sevilla. La Carbonería is a restaurant/bar known for having very authentic (and free!) flamenco performances. Unlike the "tourist" flamenco that most people see when they visit Sevilla, the performance we saw was geared more towards Spaniards themselves. It was less showy, with simpler dress and fewer dancers, as well.

Flamenco at La Carbonería:

Click below to view a movie of the flamenco we saw at La Carbonería:

At La Carbonería, we had a glass of Agua de Sevilla, one of Sevilla's traditional drinks and hung out in the garden for a while. A stray gato came up to us, which we made friends with. It was actually so friendly (and so skinny), that it tried to drink some of our Agua de Sevilla. We felt bad for it, and gave it some Pringles to eat...since we don't usually carry cat food around with us on vacation. We thus decided to name it Pringato.

In the garden of La Carbonería:

Pringato trying to drink some Agua de Sevilla:

Pringato eating some Pringles:

The next day we left for Granada, but on the way we stopped in Córdoba, another city in Andalucía, best known for its Mezquita, or Mosque. The Moors invaded Spain in the year 711, coming up through Morocco, and conquered almost all of the Iberian Peninsula. Practicing the religion of Islam, they built Mosques and other Moorish style buildings around much of Spain, particularly in Andalucía. El Cid, fighting to receive the king's pardon and for his country, helped to expel many of them in the 1100s, and by 1492 Spain was completely under Spanish rule once again. The Moorish influence remains in much of Spain, and especially Andalucía, however, since they ruled for so long.

The Mezquita de Córdoba is stunning and is a pleasant change from countless cathedrals. It's also the third largest mosque in the world, after the mosque in Mecca and the mosque in Casablanca, Morocco (which I'll be seeing in a few weeks!)

Some friends outside the Mezquita:



Some pictures of the interior:





Erica and I inside the Mezquita:

My least favorite part about the Mezquita is that the Christians built a Baroque cathedral right in the middle of it. Nothing against cathedrals, but this mosque is just so perfect as it is, it seems like sacrilege to tear part of it down to erect a church in a completely different style. On the other hand, if it weren't for the Catholic church taking posession of the mosque, it very well might have been destroyed after the Moors were driven out of Spain.

The Baroque Cathedral section of the Mezquita:

After Córdoba we went to Granada...which will be my next entry. Stay tuned!