We have our breakfast Sunday morning happy to see that the heavy rains heard overnight have passed. It is a cool partly cloudy morning, perfect to walk. I will shoot many photos, as the town is a visual delight! We walk about the center of town to find the streets surrounding Plaza Mayor are bustling with open cafes and restaurants and shops. Ana sees a local handmade jewelry store and wants to come back later to shop. We continue further into the town to find the University and the Cathedral.

Ana, of course, wants to see the cathedral, priority one. It is impressive from a distance and well as up close with intricately carved facades. it has a unique dome over the nave, that reminds me a shake shingles, layers of stone covering the dome. I have not seen one like it before. We go inside. The cathedral is more impressive than Madrid’s. We take an audio tour that leads us about. Each side chapel is discussed, after awhile, a bit tiringly so. I suppose there are devout Catholics that eat all the religious history up. The church has thousands of years of history to draw on and they use a good portion of it on this tour. Frankly, I get quickly tired of looking at religious statues…old or new. 

Unique to this cathedral is that an earlier, smaller one has been left standing and make an exterior wing on the place. We are touring the new cathedral, new since 1517 when it was begun. It is impressive in size and I am always impressed with the effort made, even over centuries, to pile stones so high! I suspect your shot at being important in the church was how well you did raising money and then building a church. Why else so many churches? Why so many cathedrals. I am also gathering that ancient clergymen were also warriers. I would like to learn more about the political science of Catholicism. 

We finish the tour and just when we think we are headed out, we spill into the adjoining Old Cathedral. Also impressive, it is dwarfed by the new one. I have seen more spectacular cathedrals in Toledo, Sevilla and Cordoba, but this one also has its merits. 

We stop on Calle Rua Mayor, which is pretty much cafe row and find a place for lunch. We order a salad, fried squid, and a plate of mixed grilled meats with some beers. The salad, like all others, is average and has tuna on top. But the squid is very good. We are filled up and cancel our last course the plate of mix meats, having seen a giant portion delivered to a table across from us. 

It begins to pour and we head into a shop near the sidewalk cafe where we have dined to seek shelter and look for umbrellas. We buy two and then end up bying some Christmas gifts, post cards and a baseball cap for Ana with Salamanca on it. When the rain subsides we head back to our apartment, stopping at an old library building near the Plaza Mayor and spend some time looking at a art exhibt explaining the art of the comic strip.

Soon,we retire to the apartment for a break and a chance to get off our feet. Later we will go back out for dinner and be disappointed by a recommended restaurant, which is high priced and not nearly as good as our cafe lunch. We drift back to the concert in the Plaza Mayor on the way home and find it filled with easily 1000 people standing in the large square. We watch the performance from the edge of the Plaza. The contemporary music is mostly noise. Large screens project the antics of the lead singer, who is more cool than talented. I don’t like big concerts. We make it through a few songs and then readily retreat to the apartment for the night. The concert will continue well into Monday morning. Fiesta week in Salamanca requires no sleep.