Hello archi lovers!
We get to know cities again, the kind we love, full of history and also a lot of art and architecture. The urban design of these cities combines present and past, forming an unique essence that is worth discovering.
So this time we are going to visit a Castilian city, in the northern interior of Spain, an intense city, with a lot of past but also with a lot of life now. This is the famous Salamanca, famous mainly for its university, which was one of the oldest in the world, the third, and the first in Spain.
As soon as we arrive we walk through streets packed with facades, balconies, stones and a lot of history from other times, and in the background at each glance a new monument, another witness of so much intense and beautiful past. For example, the robust medieval style Torre del Clavero (the Clavero Tower) that we see in the distance in some of those historic streets.
But there is more, we walk through more streets and squares, and after peaceful surroundings in quiet and colorful squares, like Plaza del Corrillo (Corrillo Square), we come across the Casa de las Conchas (the Shells House), all decorated on the outside but impressive on the inside, with an incredible porticoed patio.
University of Salamanca / Universidad de Salamanca
We follow the route of the incredible towards the famous University, at the University of Salamanca we find history, famous people taught here and were students and we find very important texts and archives for history, some of them should be read by many to finish with the disastrous Black Legend that the Anglo-Saxons always tell. Real and historical data kills malicious story. And in this wonderful building there are many.
But it also has a unique, wonderful and incredible facade. But truly incredible because among its thousands of details there are some very popular ones that everyone who comes here wants to discover as if it were a hobby. On the one hand the frog on the skull, and on the other, a certainly disturbing one, the astronaut. Yes, how could they carve an astronaut on the façade back in the Middle Ages? Theories?
The University constitutes the soul of the city, because it is a university city, so among its many old buildings there are many young people and parties, a contrast that is perceived in each place.
Convents and old churches
And some of its most famous places are also now part of the entire university complex, and we see that in other square... where we discover such as a kind of ancient convent called La Clerecía with a magnificent dome that we find with every glance into the distance when we tour the city.
And from convents, we move on to churches, such as the iglesia de San Esteban (church of Saint Esteban).
The Cathedrals
And of course to the cathedral, but Salamanca has two cathedrals, the old medieval Romanesque one and the new Gothic one. We are going to see both, but in the end it is intoxicating, so much beauty, so much ornamental ecclesiastical architecture on the outside in beautiful facades and also on the inside of the New Cathedral that we visited. Amazing numerous details on the stone!
Plaza Mayor
Faced with such religious and decorative ecstasy, we travel through new streets until we reach another emblematic and very popular point in the city, a meeting space that everyone enjoys, especially the thousands of students who live here during the academic year, it is the Plaza Mayor (Major Square). Very similar to the one in Madrid, rectangular and surrounded by a porticoed space with columns that provide a practical space with shade and under which to take shelter.
Although nothing is better than enjoying the sun, having a drink in the middle of the esplanade, remembering everything we have seen and what we are enjoying in this city full of history, religion, but also studies and knowledge, the historical and erudite city of Salamanca.
