Salamanca, Spain, from Vega Terron

Keeping track of the ports of call on our Viking River of Gold itinerary was complicated by taking excursions to other places.

After breakfast, we joined Bus 2C for the two-hour drive to Salamanca, Spain.

A stork in its nest along the road.  A good omen!

Salamanca is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that's well worth the travel time.  For a concise history of Salamanca and the reasons for the UNESCO designation, click this link.

For those concerned about such matters, it is comforting to know that there is a toilet on the bus, and we also made a scheduled stop after driving an hour.  It was in this shop with restrooms where we first encountered Spain's famed Jamón de Bellota.

Pig legs hung from hooks on rafters and walls, looking rather macabre for someone who just fell off a turnip truck, like myself.

I wasn't the only one who didn't know what they were at first, but following some murmurs and jokes, we all came to the correct conclusion.

Cut off the bone, the meat seemed fatty to me, though I probably eat just as much fat in a pizza with pepperoni or sausage. 

We were more attracted by the delicious, fresh-squeezed orange juice and thin bread.

Dubbed "La Dorada," or, in English, "The Golden City," Salamanca gets that nickname from its beautiful architecture built with sandstone.

Over hundreds of years, the high iron content in the sandstone has oxidized, imbuing the buildings with a golden glow.

It is a beautiful, clean city, which we've often found to be the case in Spain, where such conservative traditions still seem to be cherished.

In Salamanca, we were met by a knowledgeable local guide.

Knowing on a busload of people over fifty years of age that some would be ready for another bathroom break and snack, we headed to Mercado Central Salamanca.

It's a smaller version of Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market, which fresh produce, meats and other foods are sold to locals, who also enjoy some prepared foods along with tourists.  At one of the stores, we were treated to a few Iberian local specialties along with wine. 

I would take a Philly Cheesesteak over any of the snacks served there, but it was nonetheless a great opportunity to try local foods for free. 

Like Philadelphia, Salamanca features its own gigantic sandwich, Hornazo de Salamanca.  It looks like it's in a hamburger bun with the circumference of a large Frisbee, but they call it a meat pie.  It is stuffed with pork loin, chorizo and hard boiled eggs.  It would likely feed a family of four to six, so Julie and I passed on getting one on this day.

From the Mercado, we strolled to Plaza Mayor, one of the largest public squares in Spain, though the shape is actually not exactly square.

In any case, it beautiful and impressive.

Around the perimeter of the plaza are medallions featuring heroes of Spain, including writers like Miguel de Cervantes, monarchs like King Philip V (who authorized construction of the Plaza), and, of course explorers and conquistadors, who remain revered heroes in Spain.

Among the explorers is Christopher Columbus, whose reputation has been badly tarnished in the United States even as Italy claims him proudly as their native son.  Spain honors Columbus as a great explorer who advanced their country's wealth and prestige.

Portugal, which turned down Columbus's request for funding, makes a strong claim that Columbus was Portuguese by virtue of the fact that he lived and trained in Portugal.  He married a Portuguese woman.  

Some claim Columbus was actually born in Portugal, but Italy is not going to surrender their claims to their local son's remarkable accomplishments.

Alberto Churriguera y al Conde Francos, architects of Plaza Mayor

Inclusion of Conquistador Francisco Pizarro and 20th Century dictator Francisco Franco on large "medallions" of honor above arches in Plaza Mayor would undoubtedly outrage many 21st Century Americans.  It is another reminder of how the "Old World" has a better tolerance of historical norms than the USA, where we increasingly judge history by today's mores.

Walking through lovely streets we came to La Concha de Las Conchas ("House of Shells"), featuring more than 300 scallop shells on in its facade.  The shells create an interesting shadow effect when the sun is straight overhead.

With three shells being on the Strickland coat of arms (on my mother's side of our family), a last name that starts "Schell," and a love of shells in decorating by Julie and my sister, we found this to have some additional resonance for us.

Actually, the shell must have a great deal of significance in Iberia, where the Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James) through Portugal, Spain and France is marked by a scallop, or stylized scallop as we saw on the ground in Salamanca.

We saw hikers with backpacks (mostly women) at various places on the trail we passed along our excursions, following this pilgrimage trail to Galicia in Northwestern Spain, where the relics of St. James the Apostle are believed to be buried.  It has been a major pilgrimage route since the 10th century.

I confess to remaining skeptical about relics personally, but I do respect the tradition.

As with Coimbra, Salamanca is at heart a college town.

Established in 1134, the University of Salamanca is the oldest university in Spain.  Only Italy's University of Bologna (1088) and England's Oxford (1096) preceded it.  University of Paris (1150) began a few years later.

However, it wasn't until 1218 that King Alfonso IX officially founded the University of Salamanca.

Before that Royal Charter, the university taught theology, cannon law and the traditional Liberal Arts, i.e. grammar, logic and rhetoric (the latter two seem to be missing in far too many "Liberal Arts" colleges today, where safe spaces and protests circumvent legitimate debate).

Classes were initially held in the old Cathedral.  Church clerks were trained there. After Royal Charter, the university branched out to include Arts and "Physics" (natural philosophy), so basically, that's when it became a College of Arts & Sciences.

With so many academics among Viking guests on this cruise, I'm sure they found special attachment for this historic site.

Like the rest of Salamanca, the university itself and the old Cathedral where it began are beautiful.

Featured prominently on an outer wall of the University are images of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille, who financed the sailings of Christopher Columbus.  This being the province of Castille and Leon, we would expect them to be given high honors here in the Queen's home region.

The old Cathedral was supposed to have been razed when the new Cathedral went up, but fortunately saner minds prevailed.

The new Salamanca Cathedral, Catedral de la Asunción de la Virgen (Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary), is spectacular.

Its bell tower can be seen from outside the city walls and from almost any street in the city.

You could spend days peering over the details.

An odd inclusion on the outside is an astronaut among the religious images.

An astronaut in the design of Cathedral that began construction in the 16th Century?

The reason is not as earth-shattering as it may seem.  The sandstone of the Cathedral required restoration, which was completed in 1992.  The architect in charge of the project, Jerónimo García, included the astronaut as his nod to the 20th Century and a signature of sorts for his contribution to history.

I like the astronaut but question inclusion of what our guide described as a gargoyle eating ice cream.  What do you think?

Inside, this Catedral Nueva ("New Cathedral") is jaw-dropping from every angle.

Our guide left us to explore the church and wherever else we might roam with free time on our own.

After the Cathedral, we walked to Museo Art Nouveau y Art Déco - Casa Lis, which our Viking Quietvoxes or "Whispers" as some call them (devices that allow excursionists to clearly hear guides through earphones) dangling from our necks allowed free access.

The museum was cool, with interesting exhibits, but we didn't spend too much time there.  As I recall, photography was prohibited, but in any case, we have no photos of the exhibits.

Julie and I preceded to walk around beautiful Salamanca on this sun-drenched afternoon, stopping in for a Diet Coke at a cafe.

We met our group back at the Cathedral and then went for a lovely coffee/tea time at a surprisingly lovely restaurant behind an iron-barred gage before boarding the bus to our floating home-away-from-home.

The drive back to the ship took us through the beautiful countryside.

Aboard the ship again, we enjoyed happy hour conversations before another tasty dinner, though we were leaning more toward the standard offerings than regional specialties.

After dinner, we went up on deck to enjoy the sunset.  Sunset in Salamanca is supposed to make the golden sandstone glow, but on the water about a hundred miles or away, it was also lovely.

For entertainment at 9 PM in the lounge, our ship's captain and hotel manager held a "Nautical Q&A," but Julie and I just enjoyed sitting on our lounge chairs up on the top deck on a comfortable evening.