Salamanca: The Golden City
Salamanca is just as enchanting as it sounds, a city of leisure, music in the streets, carnivalesque vibes, and altogether great fun and energy. It is a historic city, important for cultural heritage, a UNESCO World Site, and home to Spain's oldest university. The city is brimming with students from all over the world, whose vibrant energy transforms the city into a uniquely youthful place. Cosmopolitan, walkable, with every corner deserving of a photo, presided over by the ancient palaces made of light, beige-coloured stone that glows richly golden in the sun. Hence, the name "La Dorada", the Golden City.
We crossed Roman Bridge over the River Tormes which dates from the first century AD and our eyes were already feasting on the spires and cupolas belonging to the city's core. Plaza Mayor is where all paths unmistakenly lead you, the heart of the buzz. Embraced by the arches and porticoed shops, this is the hallmark of the city and is considered one of the largest in the whole of Spain. At the time of our visit, large groups of joyous students were celebrating the end of the term, or the sheer fact of being young, happy, and carefree. There was dancing and playing music, there were costumes, careless abandon, and harmless tipsiness. It was difficult not to envy their joy of living, freedom, and their beautiful, heart-warming youth. To be young again, gutsy, fearless, and utterly convinced that the whole world is only waiting for you...
The next thing to envy them was the actual place where they study. Salamanca's University is in the historic centre and it was founded in the 15th century. Without ever visiting Oxford or Cambridge University, I had a very strong sense that this is what Oxbridge must look like. Old architecture, bell towers spiraling to the skies, squeaky wooden, claustrophobically narrow staircases leading you to the bell towers, and randomly dispersed gargoyles on the rooftops. Quirky, beautiful, classy, with loads of strange traditions. The facade of the university is in some parts covered with the names of graduates written in animal blood or it serves as an alternative canvas for the Where is Wally game, so tourists are challenged to find eccentric carvings such as "frog on a bull". Go figure.
Salamanca's cathedral is a Siamese twin, the old and the new wing are attached to each other. A mixture of Romanesque, Gothic, Rennaisance, and Baroque, it simply should not work together, but here, it surprisingly does. It is the most imposing building in a city of stunning old structures and is definitely worth seeing. It was started in the 12th century and it was finally finished in the 18th. The carvings on the cathedral are endless, and since they have been added over the course of years until recently, do not find yourself surprised to see a seemingly anachronistic astronaut there, or a humorous, placid-looking dragon eating an ice cream. The lucky charm is a rabbit on the frame of the entrance door, completely turned dark due to ages of being touched for luck.
The best viewpoint is on the Clerecia Church when you take the Scala Coeli, or predictably "stairway to heaven". But it is truly that. It has to be seen to be believed.
Salamanca is an eccentric diva, a city so classy, oozing old money, educated sophistication, and unmistakable style. Even the most utilitarian of places, associated with cheapness and tackiness in my personal temple of values, a local Zara shop, looks like an avant-garde art gallery/museum. This city is so much, and you feel so overpowered by beauty while walking its streets. An accidental turn will bring you to a fresco of stars on the cupola of a building. Cielo de Salamanca.
The local food market is located in a stain-glass architectural marvel, where amidst the cheese, crimson hams, and glassy-eyed seafood, you are frozen in awe, fascinated, and brought to tears by the dance of rainbow colours on the food stalls. I love Spanish people with all my heart, but I sometimes wonder if anyone deserves to wake up every day in a place such as Salamanca.
