The Astronaut and the Frog – A Night in Salamanca

After hitting the halfway mark in my abroad program (weird!), I decided to have another mellow weekend and head to the nearby town of Salamanca for an overnight stay.  Salamanca is famous for being Spain's main university town.  It's main university, the University of Salamanca, was founded in 1218, making it the oldest university in Spain and the third oldest western university in the world.  With that in mind, we figured it would be a perfect destination for a group of college students.

Again, here’s a map in case it’s helpful: http://maps.google.es/maps?q=Salamanca&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0xd3f261397e64a87:0x69d81369e0bd29e1,Salamanca&gl=es&ei=N2_NTanEBpKZhQeBocGSDQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q8gEwAA.  I apologize for the long link!

Salamanca!

Does this picture remind anyone else of Segovia?  The view and main cathedrals are VERY similar.

As expected, Salamanca was lovely and full of students, which was refreshing as most of our traveling companions seem to be large packs of international fanny pack-touting tour groups.  Our hostel was fantastic and located right in the middle of the city.  After giving us a map with tons of helpful  recommendations, the hostel owners told us our first stop had to be a restaurant called “Cervantes."  What a find!  Each drink was 1-3 euros and came with free tapas…each of which turned out to be more like a delicious mini meal.  Our hostel had also called ahead and ordered us a round of drinks – obviously securing themselves a 100% on their hostelbookers.com ratings.  Needless to say we went back a few times, to the fanfare of the waiters who came to know us well.  

Full and happy, we headed off to see the town.  My host mom had told me about two things in Salamanca that we absolutely had to see, or rather find, during our stay.  One was a mini astronaut that is built into one of the walls of the New Cathedral.  The New Cathedral was actually built between the 16^th and 18^th centuries and, along with the Old Cathedral, is one of Salamanca's two impressive cathedrals.  Apparently the astronaut it is famous for tricking tourists into thinking that the original architect had some prophetic-type vision into the future...or, in this case, space exploration.  Or we can turn to the wise wisdom of Wikipedia and assume that it was “added by an artist during restoration work in 1992 as a symbol of the 20th century.”  I think I may be cynical and go with the latter option.

Cathedrals:

Astronaut!

The second site to see is a frog ("una rana") that is built into the front of one of the university buildings.  Legend has it that if a student goes to the wall and finds the frog, they will have good luck on their exams.  I was also told more generally that it would bring me good luck and ensure that I get married within a year.  I had two midterms this week so I was determined to find it (it can’t hurt, right?).  But don’t worry, I’m pretty sure it would take a lot more than a little frog to make me even think about getting married this year!  After more time than I would like to admit, our search was successful.  I must say the frog is a bit anti-climactic – it is tiny, sitting on the top of a skull, and actually looks more like a creepy bird than a frog – but we decided to take it as a sign that our day was successful!

Wall of the frog

FROG (though admittedly not my picture - thanks google images!).  It's hard to see, but the frog is sitting on top of the skull.

Another university building (I think...)

Because it is a university town, we were determined to experience a bit of Salamanca’s nightlife.  (Note: my host mom told me that the nightlife was excellent, so this part of the trip was actually equally mandatory) : ).  Our night was hilarious.  I’m not sure if it is Salamanca or just coincidentally the night of our trip, but we ran into a ton of bachelor parties.  For some reason it seems to be a tradition that the groom-to-be dress in a seductive drag queen outfit.  I’m still a bit confused, but it did make our night much more entertaining. 

Our next day was straightforward – we ate some food and then caught the three hour bus ride back to Madrid.  My grand lesson for the day: save falafel and kebabs for the south of Spain...they may make bus rides very uncomfortable if you go for the sketchy version up north.  Regardless of said tummy ache, for those of you who are looking to travel through Spain, Salamanca is one of my top recommendations.  The Spanish people have been incredibly warm and friendly during my entire stay, but I’m not sure if anywhere I’ve gone can rival the people we met here.

Con un beso,

Annie