Backpacking pt. 1 - Salamanca

            Salamanca, Spain, was my first destination out of three to take place on backpacking journey to historical locations within a reasonable distance. It is a city in western Spain known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment. Salamanca is also the most important University City in Spain and supplies 16% of Spain’s market for the teaching of the Spanish language (according to wiki). This was my first real weekend of traveling! I left Friday morning with my friend Emily. We met at the metro in haste because only 42% of the metro system was working due to a week-long strike. Luckily we met up at perfect timing and got on the metro without having to wait half an hour like some people did.  Our bus is classified as “Express” which at the time we thought it just meant that it did not make additional stops. Turns out an express bus is basically a first class bus. The seats were HUGE and pure leather- A real luxury coach if you ask me.  

                We arrived in Salamanca at 11:30am which meant we had a few hours to kill before checking in at our hostel around 1pm. We found a McDonalds nearby and sat there using the free wifi. While we were engulfed in our technological devices, we looked out the window and saw a procession of army men. Curious to see what it was, we ventured outside to watch. Every branch of the Spanish military was there suited up: army, navy, civil guard, air force etc. This was a great surprise. Apparently this kind of procession/congregation in La Plaza Mayor is just normal so we did not learn too much about it.

View from top of Univ. Salamanca

                Check-in time rolled around and we got settled in our cute hostel. This was my first hostel experience and I can honestly say everything went well! The only tricky part was getting the lights to work. We had trouble because the hostel was EXTREMELY eco-friendly and you can only get the lights to work if you put your room key in a slot. Of course everyone is paranoid about bedbugs so I packed all my clothes in sealable bags and slept on top of the sheets with a towel on top of the pillow that was even in a clean pillowcase. No bedbugs here! The only thing we had to deal with was Tallston, our German roommate studying physics in Spain at the University of Salamanca. 

mariachi band

Nutella and banana crepe

       The University of Salamanca was founded in 1218, is the oldest in Spain, and the third oldest western university. Emily and I went over to the University and actually climbed two of the bell towers. We were literally the only ones up there. I’m not sure if this is because of the climb or just because not many people knew about it, but we had a plethora of fun running around like little children. The day passed pretty fast. By nighttime we were all cleaned up and ready to explore the Salamanca nightlife. This place is definitely a night oriented town. We started off with none other than 100 Mondatitos. After that we pressed on to a family owned bar that had a deal 3 tapas and a drink for 4 euro. We had a potato ball, mushrooms and eggs, and some fried cheese with jam on toast thing. It was absolutely DELCIOUS. We went to a few other places and ended with a stop at a crepe restaurant. Emily and I share a Nutella and banana crepe with vanilla ice cream (by far best crepe I’ve ever had). After that we cut through the plaza only to find mariachi bands in every spot. These men were dressed in costume with string instruments singing songs while they drank and smoked. These guys stayed out all night. We even saw them the next morning at 7am as we left for Segovia!!