SALAMANCA

Salamanca, Spain ended up being a wonderful surprise.  We stopped there for a night on our way to Portugal in order to break up the drive.  I chose Salamanca, based its location on our route, its distance between Biarritz and Portugal, and the brief description in my Lonely Planet book.  For being a city you never hear about, Salamanca is stunning - "an architectural splendour" to say the least.   In what seemed like the middle of the dessert, Salamanca emerged with its palate of warm oranges, tans, and browns.  Many of building were built using sandstone which provide this effect along with the Spanish tile roofs.  Our hotel was right in the heart of the old quarter and was extremely difficult to find.  There were plenty of narrow one-way streets, streets closed for construction, and others closed to cars all together that made our search for the hotel a bit trying.  Nathan, however, patient as always, navigated us in.  Our tiny hotel seemed a gem, particularly since our last night in France was mostly sleepless.  Annabelle and I both had developed a bad cold, that my dad also picked up along the way.  We experienced what I can only describe as the 'pacifier paradox'.  Annabelle can't sleep without the paci, yet, when her nose is stuffed she can't breathe with it in.  Therefore she spent most of the night, and the car ride to Salamanca, tossing and turning - almost falling asleep then scaring herself back wide awake crying.  Poor thing.  We were both zombies and quite a snotty bunch on the drive.  I was grateful to my mom who helped comfort Annie E on the drive.  Nani has become Annabelle's travel buddy in the backseat singing songs and animating finger puppets.  The clean hotel, comfortable beds and great view from our room was just what we needed to revive our spirits for the drive the next day.  We took in the sites of the Plaza Mayor, the Puerta de la Torre and the Roman Bridge, but our favorite was the Catedral Vieja which was built in the 12th Century. We also enjoyed exploring the winding cobble stone streets and had a nice dinner at a sidewalk cafe.  Although Salamanca does not get much love in comparison to Barcelona, Madrid and San Sebastian, I would definitely rank it as a Spanish city to visit.  Here are few pics from Salamanca...