Like Europe Used to Be—Salamanca, Spain!

Kathleen and I started coming to Europe in 2002 when we went to Italy for the first time. Since then, we have been back at least 20 times. We genuinely love this continent. But I am sure you have seen the protests due to over-tourism. That’s a problem many tourist destination cities are having, with too many people showing up and using up all the local resources and overcrowding cities, especially cruise ports. But our visit to Salamanca, Spain, was like going back in time—a European city before tourism discovered it. Don’t get me wrong, there were still souvenir shops and tourist cafes, but it just reminded us of the first time we were in places like Venice, Florence, Barcelona or Palermo.

Our day (like most days when you cruise the Douro River) started with a long ride on a “luxury motor coach” from our mooring spot on the river up the canyons and then a long drive on the plateau above the river. This one was our longest ride but with the biggest reward. It was also (at nine hours) the longest we would be away from the Torgil. Again, I can’t stress enough how great the “luxury motor coaches” Viking uses here on the Douro are. They are truly luxurious. It helps so much to face a 3+ hour drive (round trip) on a bus when it has so much legroom, decent WiFi and an excellent guide who tells you what you want to know and lets you look out the window (on the way there) or sleep (on the way back).

After a “comfort stop” about halfway there, we arrived in Salamanca around 10:00 a.m. with no expectations. Our first stop was the local Mercado (market). It’s not a big market—about one-tenth the size of La Bocadilla in Barcelona or about one-quarter the size of Pike Place Market in Seattle. Viking had arranged a cheese, sausage and wine tasting. And as our guide, Marianna, said, “It’s 5:00 p.m. somewhere.” The tiny bites (billed as tapas—which they weren’t) were just right for that time of the day. I skipped the wine. It has become my experience that if they give you red wine in the morning at a stand-up spot in a market, it’s not going to be the best wine ever. Here are some shots I took in the market and on the river that morning. No reminder is needed for my regular readers.

Early morning on the Douro.

It is such a peaceful river.

And the natural beauty is everywhere.

Now in Salamanca, the first building we saw.

Where this man was relaxing but had been there far too long.

Outside the market was a woman cutting something.

After the “tapas,” we were broken up into smaller groups, and each group got a local guide who let us explore the city further. We got fortunate with our guide, Maria Carmen (she said to call her Mamen). She was one of the best we had on the whole cruise. She knew her city and had a wonderful sense of humor. Sadly, she was not with us all day, but just enough that we truly got the flavor of her city. Her part of the tour started in the Plaza Mayor (I think every Spanish city has one of these) and took us through the University to the old and new cathedrals. They were genuinely unusual cathedrals as they were attached to each other, and you could move freely between them. Mamen got us right up to the steps of the new cathedral before she let us go off on our own—one note here about how great Viking was on this tour. Once we were no longer touring with Mamen, they had made arrangements in advance that if we just showed our Viking lanyard (attached to our Quiet Vox listening devices—see the one on Mamen’s neck above), we could get into many attractions and Viking paid the entrance fee. That’s classy. I think the best way for me to show you what we saw later in the tour is to post the photos with some short and sweet captions. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

Our starting spot in Plaza Mayor.

One corner of the plaza.

Now out of the plaza and moving through the city.

Down narrow streets.

To a nice church we couldn’t go into.

But had a great tower.

Now further along to another old church that is now a library.

With a statue and fountain outside.

And next to it the library with a beautiful façade.

Lots of steps.

This wall with seashells. Mamen said to come back later when the sun was on the wall for diagonal lines.

Mamen explains the sculptures on the walls.

Like this one.

And this one…

And this one…

And this one…

And this one…

And this one that had a very creepy legend about if you could spot it you had good luck with the ladies but then ended up dying and going to hell.

The blue skies and great buildings kept calling my lens.

Just beautiful.

After our first day of rain…

…these skies have been our constant companion.

From in the courtyard of the library.

Looking out.

Reminded me of the shots I got in the Belém monastery.

And now the cathedral.

In front of this cathedral was another church.

Looking up at the new cathedral façade.

And above the doors another set of characters.

Including a spaceman added a long time after the building of the cathedral.

And another shot before I went inside.

Now that Mamen had let us go, I decided to tour the cathedral quickly before heading back to Plaza Mayor, where Kathleen awaited. I am truly glad I did. I don’t usually take a lot of photos of the insides of churches. I leave that to my buddy Mike. In fact, Bob (my best Canadian friend) and I like to make fun of Mike for all the cathedral photos he takes. Don’t believe me? Wait until Mike posts his review of this trip, and I will link it so you can see 10x the photos I took in this church…and all the other churches in the world ?.

But this cathedral was so beautiful, I just kept taking photo after photo. See for yourself. Pretend the usual warning about phones is here, OK?

This spot was awe-inspiring.

As was this one.

The doors were very traditional but some of the art was very “interesting.”

Like this piece which was as big as a garage door.

Which was right across from this very traditional chapel.

And that was right next to this more modern piece which was as high as a three-story building.

Which was across from this very traditional altar piece.

All of these were in this wing of the new cathedral.

Including this huge door.. It was the size of two garage doors, side by side with five more doors on top of them.

I couldn’t get into the middle of the cathedral so this seems off-center.

Sorry.

One of the side chapels.

The pulpit.

Looking to back of the cathedral from the center of the choir area.

The stalls in the choir area. Intereting carving.

The back side of the organ.

The knave leading to the old cathedra.

Looking towards the altar of the old cathedral.

The up close view of the altar of the old cathedral.

Looking up at the dome of the old cathedral.

Maybe, the founders of the old cathedral are buried here.

The last room in the old cathedral.

Once outside two photos of the cathedral looking back.

This is number 2.

They do nice manhole covers.

One last thing before we leave Salamanca. While waiting with Kathleen, I took did street photography and want to share them. It’s the best thing a photographer can do to capture the heart of a city.

I love the look of European school kids.

And old men in bright jackets on the phone.

And people trying to figure out where the hell they are.

Locals looking in disgust at tourists.

People with dogs…

And college professors coming out of tobacco shops fully dressed for success.

After our excursion, I met Kathleen, and we grabbed a snack (a pizza and two glasses of wine for less than 12 euros—what a deal), met the rest of the gang, had a gelato (so we could have a place to sit), met up with the big group and then went to an old casino (now used as a convention/banquet space) where Viking had snacks for us. We skipped them (pretty dry sandwiches), but we were returning to the ship in less than 20 minutes, which was GREAT! We had a fantastic time in Salamanca, which to me is what Europe used to be like. Sadly, I am sure if I came back in five years, it would be overrun as well.

Overtourism is like planning a dinner party for 12 and 12,000 showing up.   —Elizabeth Becker, noted tourism expert