Salamanca

 

Today we drove for about 90 minutes, left Portugal and arrived back in Spain only to lose an hour again as the clocks went forward.

We had a supermarket shop along the way and also bought some lpg gas which had proved to be difficult to do in Portugal. 

Spain and Portugal use a different fitting to the rest of the EU on lpg pumps, I vaguely knew this but expected the filling station to have the correct adapter as they do everywhere else. 

But not in Portugal, we called at maybe six garages and none could fill us up.

As soon as we got to Salamanca, the first garage I called had the correct adapter and filled us up.

We rely on the gas for cooking, cuppa teas and heat in the mornings as it's a little chilly overnight, so it was a big relief to get filled.

Next it was on to Salamanca, the beautiful medieval university city with lovely red sandstone buildings. It's also Spains finest showcase of Renaissance architecture and on the list of every tourist who travels to this part of the Castilla Y Leon region of central Spain.

The domes of the cathedral can be seen from miles away across the surrounding flat plains.

I'd found a good parking place just outside the old town and next to the Rio Tormes. 

It's actually under a flyover by a skateboard park so we returned to a nice cool van, shaded by the flyover and an easy mostly flat walk into the old town.

I'm always a bit suspicious of people in cities, suspecting a thief around every corner. So I took the precaution of taking our passports with us today, just in case.

I need not have bothered, everything was just fine.

The town has some magnificent buildings, but wow, they're difficult to photograph properly with bright sunshine, dark shadows and tall buildings in narrow streets make them impossible to get far enough away for a proper shot.

Anyway I did my best, lol.

The stone carvings on the Catherdal are incredible in their detail

Louis enjoying a fuss from the locals

Shell carvings on the front of the Casa de las Conchas

Plaza Mayor, the largest square of it's type in Spain is an impressive place

We wanted a coffee at this point, but from past experience know not to be temped by the cafes in the square, so one block back I paid 3 euro for two coffees, result !

The Roman bridge over the Rio Tormes

Tonight we're parked up in a little village called Huerta, a few miles east of Salamanca, further along the Rio Tormes. 

It's a free parking spot with limited services, but we don't need anything as I filled the water this morning.

There is a nice river walk here so that was my after tea plan for to this evening.

The weather today has been beautifully sunny and 22 / 23c, so very comfortable for walking around.

Rio Tormes

It was a lovely walk in the late afternoon sunshine with lots of ducks on the water, birds roosting in the trees and a storks nest on the church roof.

Huerta stone circle was a bit of a disappointment

Huerta village

There is also a stone circle I walked to, which frankly was a bit of an anti climax. 

It looked like it was put there in the last decade.

It's a good little parking spot though, we have two neighbours for the night, a Dutch and a Spanish motorhomes.

                                

We're the blue blob by the river

And zoomed out a bit

The plains of Spain on the way to Salamanca