Salamanca Day 2: Still Sunny, 20C

A Beautiful City:

Yesterday afternoon I walked out to the Camino entry into the city to try and experience what I had looked forward to all last winter...walking over the old Roman bridge into the city centre. So I looked straight ahead as I found my way across the river then I enjoined the moment...

It was almost as good as doing the it with my gear on...certainly less work! After crossing the bridge I flag compelled to go see the cathedral...it was sitting right there and beckoning to me...so I did. There are actually two cathedrals (referred to as a cathedral because it is the seat of the diocese), the old and the new. In relative terms they are both old, but the older is constructed in the Romanistic style and the new in Gothic, Both are interesting and are actually joined together... First I climbed the tower and got a bit more than I expected.

See the high walk way on the top of the columns? Yup, had to walk along a fair bit of that. Things I do to take photos! It was very narrow and very high!these shots are from the new church.

The route up the tower took me across roof tops, through the higher areas of the church and continually up ever narrowing spiral stairways. It was quite the climb! Notice the cracks...from the Lisbon massive earthquake in the 1700's.

You may find this hard to believe...I did...there were only about 20 people in the Catherdral when I was there. No tour groups, just a few singles and couples walking quietly around...amazing! From the cathedral I just wandered around town crossing the most famous sight in Salamanca...the completely beautiful Plaza Mayor.

I finally found a grocery store and went back to my digs and made a great meal...imagine how good it was to eat real potatoes instead of frites which is what they always seem to do to patatoes in Spain. Hard to believe one can get tired of eating out...but I did, and will make dinner again tonight and watch the French Open. Tomorrow I'll post some shots from around the city as I waked extensively today and will again tomorrow as I recover and work to keep my body moving a bit. Some nice markets and city scenes. Plan to continue my journey Thursday...very nice to have the time to just be a visitor.

Cheers!