Brian's Adventures in Spain!: Ávila, Salamanca, and Valladolid

So I'm now three weeks behind on my blogging. But, I'm going to catch up!

Our next road trip was to the northwest.

We left bright and early for Ávila, about a 2-1/2 hour bus ride away. I really didn't know anything about this town before we arrived, so I was pleasantly surprised when the first thing I saw was a sweet city wall. Here is a picture:

This town dates back to pre-Roman times, and you can see lots of remnants of the Romans, such as grave stones, foundations of buildings, etc. In fact, the wall was built by re-using the stones from the original Roman wall. Neat-o! Anyway, here are some other goodies from our tour of the city:

Bull statue - from the pre-Roman Íberos

San Juan de la Cruz

Principal façade of the Cathedral

On the city wall!

View of the cathedral from the wall

And last of all, here is a view of the whole city:

BTW's: It was freakin' cold during this whole trip. But still worth it!

Next stop: Salamanca. The Universidad de Salamanca is the oldest university in Spain, and the third oldest in Europe (after Bologna and Oxford). Almost the whole city is built with sandstone, so during the day it looks a little blah, but at night... WOW. Here are some pictures from around the city:

Stork nest atop a church

Casa de Conchas - House of Shells

Family shield (Inside the Casa de Conchas)

Patio of the Casa de Conchas - you can see the Arabic influence

Beautiful staircase

These columns look like curtains (Another Arabic influence)

The old university was beautiful! The façade is done in plateresco style, meaning it's very ornately decorated, just like silver (i.e. plata). There is a tradition in Salamanca: if you can find the frog on the façade, it means that you'll pass your exams. If you are a traveler and you find the frog, it means that you'll return to Salamanca. Well, I guess I'll be returning, because I found the frog! Here is a pic of the façade - see if you can spot the frog!

Did you find it? Here's a hint:

I don't want to jinx it for you and tell you where on the wall it is, but if you really want to know, tell me and I'll point it out to you some time! :) Here are some other pics of the university:

Patio

Univeristy chapel

Original library!

Just like every other city we've been to, we had to check out the cathedral. Here it is:

This one is pretty much your standard Gothic-Baroque combo (cathedrals took hundreds of years to build so they usually have a mix of styles). However, it is the only Gothic cathedral to have an astronaut on it. But wait... there were no astronauts in the 16th century! Right?

You're right. There were no astronauts in the 16th century. However, there were astronauts in 1992, when part of the façade was replaced. You can see the difference in color: new sandstone is white but turns gold as it ages (oxidation). Here's another goodie from the same façade:

Yes, you better believe that's a lion eating a double ice cream cone! Good stuff.

Anyway, the sandstone buildings were moderately attractive during the day, but once night fell, the whole city lit up in gold! Here are some nocturnal views:

In front of the cathedral

Plaza Mayor

View of the cathedral

Yes... I will be returning to Salamanca some day. (BTW, not only is it a beautiful old city, it's also a pretty hoppin' college town.)

Next city: Valladolid. This was the first time we've been to a city without an organized tour; we were turned loose for 3 hours to go explore! We ended up spending a good chunk of that time wandering around looking for food. But we eventually found a tapas bar and ordered some raciones. Cultural note: Raciones are a single item, served on a plate to share with 4-5 people. It's a great way to go; we ordered 5 dishes and fed 6 people for 36€. Pretty dang good! Because we were so awesome, they gave us these cute little dessert shots for free. It was like a berry purée with cream atop. YUM!

We wandered around the city for a bit and found some other goodies, like a park that was overrun with peacocks! (BTW's: the Spanish word for peacock is pavo real - "royal turkey". Heh.)