SALAMANCA has well been discussed in the preceding articles. Let’s now focus on the various tourist spots in Salamanca.

To any sane tourist, his or her best weapon is food and water. Without food and water, one cannot survive traveling of course. And in traveling to such places as Salamanca, one can say that food is not a problem. Since Salamanca has its own share of prolific agricultural produce, it definitely abounds of restaurants featuring menus whose ingredients are harvested literally around the corner. Wheat fields abound in Salamanca.

The term Salamanca itself means magic and one can surely find magic everywhere in the province. Let’s deviate from food for a moment and focus on the magic of Salamanca itself. Take for instance the infrastructure around the place. The province of Salamanca which is part of the autonomous community of Castile-Leon has lots of brick roads characteristic of old Europe. Even its center – Plaza Mayor – has a haunting vibe to it as it used to be the coliseum of executions in olden times. Today it is now a tourist attraction and gone were the horrors that used to be associated with the place. Nearby Plaza Mayor, one can find lots of sidewalk vendors displaying native-made trinkets and other fabulous homemade accessories which can be flaunted as novelty items or souvenirs when one returns to his country of origin. Nearby Plaza Mayor too, one will find other simple architectural masterpieces of Salamanca like the Catholic cathedral. This is something interesting to behold and ponder because a place of worship is established just a stone’s throw away from where executions used to be held. But that was Spain during the olden times when both the civil government and the Church are one. Today, rock and pop concerts featuring Spanish performers and recording artists are likewise featured in Plaza Mayor. There is an urban legend that states those concert crews see floating “white ladies” and other ghost-like sceneries inside the backstage of Plaza Mayor. True or not, this has increased tourism to some extent in Salamanca.

Now, let’s go back to the food. Most food served in Salamanca consists of meat such as roasted suckling pig. Called lechon de leche for its crispy flavor, roasted suckling pig tastes yummier than a roasted adult pig because of its relatively soft and crispier meat. But there are varieties of pork too such as chorizo or spicy sausage, ham and bacon. Sometimes chorizo is mixed with fried eggs and bread crumbs. That is really a hearty meal good for people on the go so tourists are advised to jog around Plaza Mayor a few hours after that hearty meal to work off the calories. Breakfast is served a little late though at about 9:30 a.m. so by 11 a.m., you have to start jogging. The next meal will have to wait as lunch is served at 3:00 p.m. while dinner will be tendered at 9:00 p.m. Salamanca may not be as hip as Ibiza but there do exist parties after dinner.