Salamanca's lucky frog

2006-07-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

Most foreigners think that the most beautiful cities in Spain are Barcelona and Madrid, but I disagree because, in my opinion, at least another city should be joined to that list.

Salamanca was one of the most important cities in the Middle Ages, because its University was one of the best in Europe. Now it is mainly known because of the huge number of ancient buildings that it has and because of being a place of multicultural exchange.

You may ask yourselves why I like Salamanca so much. There are two reasons for that: the first one is that I was born there and the second one is that, as I see it, in Salamanca the mixture between the modern and the old things is stronger than in other cities, what makes it more attractive.

First of all, I want to say that I could not include all the monuments that this place contains because I wouldn’t have enough paper to, so I am just going to describe three of them.

First, one of the most popular monuments in this city for foreigners is the Main Square. That square is a huge rectangle limited by very high walls. These walls contain lots of arches and on the top of them there are carved busts of the different kings, famous artists, conquerors and writers that Spain has had. It is like the heart of the city, you can see people there at all times, sitting in the open air cafés, playing, sunbathing lying on the floor, walking, meeting under the Town Hall clock... the square is never empty but aways full of life, even all along the night with the noisy students having fun.

Second, I would like to describe you the two cathedrals. They are two because their styles are different but they are joined in only one. One of them was made in the Romanesque period so its walls are not too big but very thick. As opposed, the other cathedral is completely different from the Romanesque one because it has a Gothic style. It is enormous and really tall; its walls are very thin so it looks like it is going to fall down. It also has some very beautiful stained glass windows. As a result, the light passes trough them lighting up the inside of the building with a very lovely range of colors.

Finally I want to talk you about the University which was pretty famous in the past because of its quality and now because of its age. This University is about 728 years (it was built in1218) and it is one of the oldest in European countries. Nowadays, the University is still opened and its courses for foreign people are some of the best in Spain so there are plenty of foreigners, what makes the city actually richer. One amusing tradition of this building is that there is a skull, carved on the façade of the university, with a frog on its top; so, before getting into the classes, you have too look for it and if you find it you will have luck in your exams.

I also believe that the people of Salamanca is so friendly and happy as those from other parts of Spain, but added to this, they are used to seeing foreigners there, so if you go to this city you will fell as at home.

They also have delicious meals like roast suckling pig and “hornazo” which is a kind of pie made with several types of cold meat.

I don't think there is another town where you can find more bars per square mile and they are all different. Night life in Salamanca never ends, neither during the winter or the summer. Some people even come from Madrid just to enjoy the charm of its busy nights.

To end this blog I just want to say that if you travel to Spain you can not forget visiting Salamanca because if you do that you will miss a very important an representative part of my country and you will miss out on a lot of fun.

Eugenio's blog

Salamanca's lucky frog