Day in Salamanca

I love these power-thru days. I just have to keep going, walk a lot (my phone says I’ve walked 12.3 miles), get a lot of fresh air and sunlight and hope that my circadian rhythms do an about face and I wake up on Spain time.

This week is fiestas in Salamanca. Their patron saint’s day is tomorrow. Santa María De la Vega. Good thing I arrived today, because everything will be closed tomorrow. Lots of outdoor concerts, food and wine stalls everywhere, processions popping up, just your typical Spanish fiesta.

It was kind of a hodge podge day. I got my Spanish SIM card first thing. Then buying stuff like water and food for snacking while walking, my favorite sun lotion, etc. In between I did some fun tourist things—cathedral roof tour, medieval art museum, hunting down the house where Unamuno lived and died, finding the restaurant where Joe, David, Katy, Ben and I had a very nice meal in 2004 (El Pecado, it’s still there!), sitting in the Plaza Mayor and having a 3.5 € glass of wine (well worth the high price to sit in this spectacular plaza and watch the world go by).

By 7:00 I was ready to start heading to my hotel for bed. But on the way I ran into the patron saint’s procession, so I delayed bed time a bit. People from all the towns of Salamanca province came to walk with flowers and music. Each has a different outfit, hairdo, hat, shoes, it’s pretty amazing I was transfixed for an hour. And the thing that’s most incredible to me is that there were lots of children, lots of teenagers, lots of young people, all wanting to preserve this tradition. Amazing.

And then why not wait a few more minutes for the fireworks?!

I’m walking tomorrow but I am going to have the slowest start of any camino I have ever walked. I promised myself I would do it, so 17 km is all I will do.Read more