The Ancient University City of Salamanca, Spain, Salamanca, Spain

Oh, Salamanca - how I misjudged you. This ancient university town was only supposed to be a layover city on our drive from Seville to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. I was not expecting it to be as lovely and dynamic a city as I (we) found it to be. Alas.

Well, if you’ve been following this blog, you’d know that my daughter and I embarked on an eight-city tour of Spain back in December (you can catch up on the cities and photographs at the end of this post). In my last post, I presented a series of images from our time spent in the beautiful city of Seville. Our next stop was a 4+ hour drive north to Salamanca where we would lay our heads for the night before proceeding on to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia - another 4+ hour drive.

Now I knew Salamanca was no slouch city. I mean, its historic center had been designated a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO. What I wasn’t expecting was how dynamic and charming this city turned out to be. And by the time we were back in our rental car heading up to Galicia, I was kicking myself hard for not allowing another day in this lovely city.

Salamanca is situated in the west of Spain in the Autonomous Community of Castilla and León. It was first conquered by the Carthaginians in the 3rd century B.C. and then became a Roman settlement before being ruled by the Moors until the 11th century. The Cathedral School of Salamanca existed as far back as the late 12th century and is one of the country’s best examples of Renaissance architecture. In its heyday it was one of the most highly regarded European universities and still attracts thousands of international students. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).