Stopping in Salamanca

At this point in the Portugal-Spain-France road trip, we had to get back to Lisbon to return the rental car. We use rental car insurance through a Chase credit card, which has a limit of 31 days. That meant we’d either need to make a 12-hour drive straight through or stop somewhere in Spain.

I’ve always heard great things about Salamanca. I studied abroad in Spain twice during college and grad school years ago, but never made it there. We decided to stop as a halfway point to break up the drive.

After we unloaded into our Airbnb (another apartment of our own— what luxury!), our first stop was the Plaza Mayor. We had a quintessentially Spanish first dinner of paella and cochinillo (roasted suckling pig) with patatas bravas as an appetizer (Meson Cervantes). All that plus a tinto de verano summer wine spritzer instantly brought me back to my college study abroad days!

For the next morning, I booked us on a free walking tour, but upon arrival we realized that the tour was in Spanish. It was definitely a dumb American error to assume that the world would cater to English speakers! We tried to keep up with the guide but quickly decided to hop off the tour and create our own.

The city is so impressive that it was easy to find sights to see! This blog was also a big help to me in figuring out where to stop.

We passed by the Casa de las Conchas on our way to the Cathedral. All the architecture is completely awe-inspiring, and the Cathedral (actually two cathedrals—old and new) is massive.

We thought of going on a tour inside, but we read some reviews that visiting the Ieronimus Towers of the Cathedral might provide more interesting views with less of a crowd.

It did not disappoint on either front, and I’m so glad we chose that route. We saw the insides of both old and new Cathedral, and we saw some amazing views of the outer towers.

We tired ourselves out in the hot sun and fully understood the need for a Spanish siesta. Later, once the heat of the day had cooled off a bit, we headed back out for tapas. Our server convinced us to try the city’s famous pork cheeks (tasty, but not something I need to eat regularly.) For dinner, we ended up grabbing takeaway of another local delicacy—hornazo, a pork/ham concoction baked in pie dough (forgot to take a photo, but you can see one here.)

And we capped it off with some gelato back in the Plaza Mayor at the Heladeria Bico de Xeado.

It was a surprising and spectacular stop! If you ever find yourself passing through the middle of Spain, I can highly recommend spending a day or two in this stunning city.