24 June Farewell Someido Ola Salamanca

Sad to say goodbye to Mihaela, the gorgeous maid that has looked after us for the past three days, but time to move on.

Beautiful sunny day and in fact it got hotter as the day wore on so by the time we reached Salamanca it was HOT

The route to Salamanca was uncomplicated, initially it was through the mountains, but as we left the Asturias it became fairly dry uninteresting countryside, and the rest areas aren’t a patch on ours – no toilets and no shade

at one point the sight and smell of the broom on the roadside was all pervasive.  Part of the route, was along the same route as the Carmen De Santiago

although we didn’t see any walkers, and part of the route was on the Autopista where we again paid a hefty toll and then on the Autovia.

The worst part of the journey was when we reached Salamanca. Karen kept sending us around in circles. This was partly because of one way streets, partly because part of the town is pedestrian only and partly because of some of the streets being closed because of a cycle race.

We had previously picked out the Hotel Mayor as it sounded suitable and it was near the famous Plaza Mayor. We are glad we persevered as it is a relatively inexpensive hostel with a comfortable room and right next to the square. It also had secure parking close by.

After checking in we set out to explore the city, a University city steeped in history, dating back to Roman times. We stumbled on a little tourist train that wound its way through and around all the historic sights so we hopped aboard and armed with a sheet of the English translation of the commentary we were able to pick out most of the important sights. A tour well worth it, so much so that when we walked back to the square we could spend time taking in and photographing some of the landmarks.

By the time we got back to the Plaza it was beer o’clock and almost dinner time. We managed to secure ourselves a table with a good vantage point of the square and the TV showing the European cup game between Italy and England.

A note here – everywhere we have been the TVs have been showing the various games – it is definitely European Cup fever time!!

See if you can spot Bill?