Plaza Mayor, Salamanca

The center of a city is in Salamanca, as in any other city in Spain, a big Plaza in the middle of the city. In this case it is not that different from the other Spanish cities, but it has a lot of culture. Not so long ago they had to organize huge bullfights if the students wanted to graduate at the Universidad de Salamanca, and during all these years, they placed big pictures of the heads of the important people of Spain, but mostly Salamanca, who affected the history of this beautiful country. Like for example all the Spanish kings, important concerers like Christopher Columbus, authors like Lope de Vega...

Furthermore the city organizes the most import things on this plaza and helps to cause awareness for example for the terroristic attacks in Paris or breastcancer, by switching the colours of the lights that delight the plaza. The only bad thing about the plaza are the super expensive bars and restaurants that ask for way too much money for bad food.

The most famous place in Salamanca is its central square, Plaza Major. It's located right in the middle of the city and it's a must see in town. 

It's litterally a square surrounded by buildings from the 17th century, the most important of them is the city's hall.

The Plaza is also a great place to eat Salamanca's typic dish: Hornazos and sweets, since there are many bakeries and tapas restaurants around it. 

Spend some time admiring the place and feeling the spanish air. People say Salamanca's Plaza Mayor is even more beautiful than Madrid's. I couldn't decide between the two of them, but you can visit and judge by yourself.

Salamanca is the most excellent university city in Spain. Apart from having a lot of atmosphere in every corner, it is a beautiful city, with a lot of things to see and places to visit.

Perhaps the most emblematic location of the city, and one of the most well known by tourists, is Plaza Mayor and where thousands of students from all parts of Spain meet every year to celebrate the old university night. The square, which is one of the oldest in Spain, although newer that the one in Madrid, has a baroque style and its columns are decorated with medallions of important people from the history of Spain, such as the Catholic Royals, for example. Nowadays, it has become a meeting point for many Salamancans. Plaza Mayor in Salamanca has bars in which famous writers would sit to drink something, including Miguel de Unamuno.

Another of the most visited locations in the city is the cathedral which is made up of two parts, one is new and one is old. The old cathedral is roman style and gothic style. On the other hand, the new part is gothic, baroque and renaissance. This is the second biggest cathedral in Spain. They are situated together. The front is very beautiful and it's worth seeing the inside. The river Tormes runs along the side of the cathedral, crossing various bridges of the city, amongst them, the oldest bridge, which is called the Roman bridge due to its origin. You can take very cool photos with the cathedral, river and bridge.

On the other hand, there is the Casa de las Conchas which is an old palace, which is now a public library. The front is decorated with shells and there is the odd legend about what one of them can hide. One of the most well known is that under one of these shells there is a gold ingot, and since in the old days the custom was to put one of them to give good luck to the building. Another legend says that under one of those shells hide the jewels of the woman who lived in the palace of the shells many years ago, but today nothing is clear at all.

On the other hand, there is the front of the university famous for hiding a frog in it, with a few legends; among them the best known is that if you see the frog as a student, it will give you luck and you will exit through the big door of the university. One of the most famous and well-known icons of Salamanca is also the frog of luck. Another of the legends for those who come from abroad is that if you see the frog you will marry, and if you do not see it you will not.

Salamanca is a beautiful city, with its people, its cathedral, its Plaza Mayor and its university area.

I had the luck to get to know Salamanca better thanks to my boyfriend, Álvari :) He showed me every corner and made it so that every places in Salamanca were special. He took me to all the touristic places which I mentioned previously, as well as the Huerto de Calixto and Melibea which were also very nice to see. He took me to the villages in the outskirts of Salamanca, very beautiful, like La Alberca which is a tiny village. All the houses in the village follow the same pattern and are made of slate. It's very rural and colourful, with its streets, its flowers...

Every time I visit this city I end up admiring the landscapes in awe, each one more beautiful than the other. My personal favourite views are the ones from the Roman bridge from the cathedral with the river as well, and of course Plaza Mayor. Every time that I'm here I enjoy seeing these spectacular works of art so much and taking photos, this city has a very special charm.

And let's not talk about the atmosphere... Salamanca is a city full of university students therefore there are loads of parties across the city. The most well known is la noche vieja universitaria (the old university night) which is celebrated in December, this year it falls on the 10th day, Thursday, and thousands and thousands of students from Spain and abroad will join the celebration. You can imagine what's going to happen here next Thursday... Furthermore, the city isn't at all expensive, going out partying is cheap as you don't have to pay entry into clubs. The drinks are generally quite cheap as well as the cans and if you go out to eat it's the same thing. It's quite a cheap city.

The party is in Plaza Mayor and it fills up so much, to the point that no more people can fit in; but not only this, the whole city will be full of people, the bars, clubs, pubs, each corner of the city will be full. This is why Salamanca is a city in which you're always going to find a good atmosphere, whether you're going out on a Monday, Thursday, Saturday or Wednesday. There is always a party and there is always a reason for the students to go out, it's a city that never sleeps.

Salamanca is life. Salamanca is colour. Salamanca is night. Salamanca is day.

Salamanca is people. Salamanca is happiness. Salamanca is enjoyable.

Salamanca is party. Salamanca is tourism.

Salamanca is enchanting.

I hope that this description will encourage you to come to one of the most enchanting cities in Spain. It won't disappoint you, you have to come at least a few times in your life. I can tell you that it'll interest you and there are loads of things to see and do. If you're on Erasmus and can afford a journey to this fantastic city, don't doubt it for a second, there are also loads of Erasmus parties here, which are celebrated in pubs like the Irish Theatre, where loads of international people meet to party and get to know each other. It's great.

Don't think about it and just come!

Many people say that the Plaza Mayor en Salamanca is the best Plaza Mayor in Spain. I cannot really approve or decline that because so far I only have seen the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca, Madrid and Bilbao. .. But until now for me it's correct that the one in Salamanca is the most beautiful. It's a little bit smaller than in Madrid but that's not a problem at all.

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It is a really cool place to hang out and drink a coffee in the sun. The price in the cafes is a little bit higher than in others in Salamanca, but with about 2€ totally okay - I mean you can drink a coffee for that price at one of the best places in Salamanca!

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By night it's even better when it's not that crowded and the lights come out.

And if you're lucky, you will see one really weird vehicle. It's a big vacuum cleaner which cleans at Plaza Mayor every hour for 5-10 minutes!

Plaza Mayor of Salamanca is situated in the centre of the city and represents as well the heart of the social life of Salamanca. Apart from the city hall, you can find there tapas bars, restaurants, bakeries and shops. For this reason it is always full of people: it's kind of the centre of the city scene and amusement, due to its great number of students.

This square-shaped square was built in baroque style in the eighteenth century, following the model of Plaza Mayor of Madrid, and it underwent various modifications throughout the centuries: for example, the gardens, the music pavillon and the public loos were eliminated. However, this huge urban work keeps playing an important cultural role since it is a part, together with the university, of those monuments which allowed for the old town becoming a cultural heritage of UNESCO in 1998. As a matter of fact, the square fulfills the first of the six criteria of eligibility, that is "representing a masterpiece of the human being", because it was considered as "one of the most important urban complex of the eighteenth century in Europe".

For all these reasons, you can't miss this place out if you visit Salamanca. It's really worth a visit.

What I recommend you do/see in this square:

♥ a tapas bar: Tentazión for its delicious tapas and its glasses of Yllera wine (a very sweet white wine);

♥ a bakery: Santa Lucía, for its desserts (pastelinos and vasinos): the hazelnut cake is a real delight!