SALAMANCA and THE PLAZA MAYOR.

Salamanca was a delight and as the guide book had suggested, a very lively 24 hours a day city full of students and tourists. However, we saw very few pilgrims arriving in the Plaza Mayor apart from several bike groups moving through.
The Plaza is indeed the meeting place of the city and it is not difficult to imagine former times and bullfighting arenas.Medallions on each pillar of the arcades are of important people in Spain´s history. The medallion of Franco is ,not surprisingly frequently vandalised!
What a view from the 240 private balconies on the first and second floors, on three sides of the square. We could take a peek at the sumptuous decorations behind some of these balconies after dark.
The Ayuntamiento is on the 4th side of the square and it has the most elaborate balconies, which provide a perfect location to parade after a wedding ceremony. We saw this on Friday night and it was a little like a royal occasion with hundreds of us in the square waving and cheering at the happy couple!
The night we arrived, it was the perfect venue for a Chilean Circus Troupe to entertain us to a trapeze show after dark (10pm)with live music and spectacular lighting (we were lucky enough to arrive in the middle of one of Salamanca´s many arts festivals).
At other times of the day, it is the perfect spot for people watching and a popular place for families to bring children to play at any time if the day and night.
Another day we saw a lady arrive in the Plaza with a large fishing rod with silver helium balloons attached. She cast out and pulled in her line to the delight of all onlookers and apparently had little video cameras on the balloon strings.
On our last morning a huge hot air balloon arrived in the square,so never a dull moment.
Not far away, a raucous stag party was in full swing on Saturday afternoon with the 'groom' dressed as a buxom bride and attracting buskers to provide entertainment.
Shortly afterwards a family appeared with a daughter dressed up in a long white dress, celebrating her first Communion, and a graduation group from the University were celebrating success!
Yes, it's a beautiful city boasting 2 Cathedrals and historic university buildings, and people who know how to enjoy themselves.
We sat next to a young undergrad from Burgos who has studied here for 4 years and loved every minute of it.
It is not surprising to be told there were 10,000 students here in the 16th century.....we saw graduation ceremonies happening on Friday and Saturday!
Its back to the vdlp this pm....what a complete change after the bustle of Salamanca.