Wednesday 25 October.   Salamanca day.

  Early train.  City is celebrating is 1000 th year. University town.

If you dropped us in Salamanca and told us we were in Sienna we would believe you.  Similar architecture; lovely.

On the way to the Plaza Mayor we found the Mercado.  Not crowded, lovely goods, very fresh fish and veggies. 

Local pastries here appear to be a notch up from Madrid and other towns we have visited. Plaza Major refection from the window.  An art shot.

Tourist office gave us a map and a suggestion of what to see during the day trip.  Would have taken several days but we made a valient effort to see most of the highlited sites. 

Plaza Major, a major attraction.

Students sketching in front of the  private Catholic University.  There is also the public one, more on that later.

Salamanca library once again gives the feeling of being in Italy.

Cathedral: we got a joint ticket to both the new (Gothic) and old (Romanish) cathedral. The Gothic is especially high, no retablo, large like Léon, maybe larger.  QB has a number of good pics on Flickr.

Need some Spanish scholarship (Nancy and Jerome?) to explain why Madrid has no major cathedral but Léon, Salamanca, Burgos have impressive ones.  

The old Romanish Cathedral.

Lunch.  Got to compare to fine Riberas of significant aging.  QB could discern the longer aged one. 

University. 700 -800 years in existence. Toured the rooms but not impressed. Great entryway.

The entrance to the University.