Story, photos and video by Keith Kellett

River Tormes

Salamanca stands on the River Tormes, which many people who regularly take part in Vaughantown programmes know, because, in its infancy, that river also flows near the regularly-used hotel at Puerta de Gredos.

I did think at first that a city centre wasn’t a very good place for a Vaughantown programme. There would be too many distractions, and I thought the intimate ‘house party’ atmosphere we enjoyed at other locations would be lost.

But, since the main activity is the ‘one to one’, where you spend an hour talking with a Spanish participant, this is really the way to see a city, rather than trudging along mob-handed behind the man with the flag.

On the first day, Carolina took me to the Cathedral, where she offered to show me the figure of a ‘monkey eating an ice cream’ among the carvings around the door. It didn’t look like a monkey, though … more like a chimera dreamed up by a computer games designer smoking some serious stuff.

And, what he was holding may have looked like an ice cream cone to some, but to me, it looked like … well, I’ll leave it to your imagination!

The Astronaut

But, what was this? Among the carvings around the door was a helmeted, space-suited figure!! Carolina explained that the figure of the astronaut had been added during renovations in 1992, to commemorate the 500^th anniversary of the discovery of America .

Then, we went to see more carvings, this time at the University. If you can find a frog, said Carolina, you will pass all your exams (I wish I’d known that fifty years ago!) The frog did take some finding … I only got it with the help of Carolina and the zoom lens on my camera.

However, when we visited again a couple of days later, Carlos said that was not the frog. But, he wouldn’t say where it really was.

The centre of any Spanish city is usually the main square, or the Plaza Mayor, and the one in Salamanca is a particularly magnificent one. I knew something about it from a podcast I’d listened to just before I left. According to the person being interviewed, the young folk of Salamanca used to take their paseo, or evening stroll in the plaza.

Plaza Mayor

The boys would walk in a clockwise direction, and the girls anti-clockwise. If a boy saw a girl he was attracted to, he’d say ‘Queso!’ … or ‘cheese’. If the attraction was mutual, the girl would reply ‘Quesito! , or ‘little cheese’. Unfortunately, the podcast didn’t say what happened next … but I saw no evidence of this going on, anyway.

Just by the plaza is the mercado, or covered market. Markets are usually a treat for the eye or the lens markets, and this one was no exception. Especially as it’s situated in a lovely art-nouveau building.

Among the many items for sale was a local speciality, hornazo. This is a meat pie made with flour and yeast and stuffed with pork loin, chorizo sausage and hard-boiled eggs. But, I didn’t try any, for it doesn’t come in ‘individual’ sizes, and is by no means ‘street food’; you need to take it home, warm it up and find three or four friends to share it with.

There’s plenty of free time, and programmes don’t start till breakfast at 9 o’clock, anyway. Since I usually rise very early, I had plenty of time to take a walk on my own, and do some photography.

I called at a churreria, where I had an early breakfast of chocolate con churros … this is how some Spanish people like to revive in the morning after a night’s partying. It consists of a mug of seriously thick drinking chocolate, into which you dunk a sort of stick of doughnut stuff.

Cathedral from the Roman Bridge

Suitably refreshed, I walked further down the street to the Puente Enrique Esteban, which is as magnificent as it sounds, and I reflected it’s a good thing it wasn’t in England … ‘Harry Stevens Bridge’ just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

There’s parkland all along the banks of the Tormes, and heading west brings you to the Puente Romano … the Roman Bridge.

This is in really good condition, probably because it’s now a pedestrians-only bridge. With its many arches and paved surface, it’s a magnificent thing in itself. But, it’s also a great place for photographs of the city … especially at dawn

On the north bank, midway between the two bridges, the Art Nouveau frontage of the Modern Art Museum stands high on the old city wall. Along with Maggie, an Australian participante, I’d made a note to visit next time I had free time. But, whenever we passed, the gates were firmly locked … and it wasn’t until too late that we discovered the ‘frontage’ was actually the ‘backage’, and the entrance was in another street.

I recorded a lot of video. The aim was to balance the surroundings with the actions of the participantes. Which meant I had a lot of stuff left over, and I didn’t want to waste it. I had enough to make one purely of the city … so here it is … The Golden City. I think you’ll see why.