A city is like a mother and as such she undoubtedly loves all of her children the same.
But just imagine if there was a recurring question, asked incessantly, with a please, please, please at the end...Well then there would be nothing else to do but chose, and only in this kind of scenario, would we be able to make the following recommendations.
These are special places and experiences that although they appear simple, have very much a special significance, an essence and a richness. And more importantly, we guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
Ieronimus. The ability to go into the very bowels of the cathedrals, both the Romanesque and the new one, and delve into every hidden nook and cranny as if it were your own home. And what’s more, you get to discover the city of Salamanca in a totally different way. What else could you ask for!
A walk around the Clerecía Towers. Next to the Cathedral towers. They are part of a very select collection of towers in Europe and in the whole world. It is rumoured that on warm summer nights, they speak to each other about matters both earthly and divine.
Casa Lis. A place of dreams. Colour, light, glass, jewels, dolls , chryselephantine statuettes... A wonderful mansion house that is home to the very essence of Art deco and Art Nouveau. (Calle Gibraltar)
Cueva de Salamanca. The mystery and adventure of learning, although there is more than simply meets the eye. Eighteenth century quantum physics. (Cuesta Carvajal)
Cielo de Salamanca. Creating the heavens does not mean simply drawing stars, it means raising a whole cosmogony up above our heads. The heavens protect us, are a source of light and can explain everything. Only within the grasp of a handful of men, titans and a few cities. Fernando Gallego and the University, in the Escuelas Menores courtyard.
Huerto de Calixto y Melibea gardens. Love, passion, life and ultimately death. The complicated nature and immensity of the human soul and its relationships. The well, the walk, the garden, are images, like whispered messages at a meeting.
Café Novelty. Gonzalo Torrente Ballester welcomes guests to the café, greets them and allows the people to ask him questions. And like any good Galician/Salamancan he replies “it depends..”. The Novelty, in the Plaza Mayor, was his favourite haunt for discovering “joys and sorrows, escapes and sagas”, while others only saw people passing by.
An ice cream in the Plaza Mayor. First choice amongst the thousands of flavours, as it melts in your mouth filling your senses with colour... An ice-cream in the Plaza Mayor is the closest thing to the epitome of pleasure. And to think that just two centuries ago, they used to have to bring snow from the surrounding mountains by carriage.
A visit to Zara. Sometimes, not too often, commerce – the activity which has most collaborated win the development of our species, and which is part of our very DNA – and the heritage of memory, namely time, manage to successfully come together. In those rare cases, and this is one of them, the clothes seem to appear different, and feel better against the body. The shop was built upon the remains of a former convent (Plaza del Liceo).
Shopping: Cured meats and hams. Salamanca is THE city for Ibérico cured ham. It would be worth a visit if only for the wonderful smells. If you then buy some and eat it, words cannot express...These are very gifted and wholesome pigs.
