The drive across the border from Portugal through to Salamanca began with barren, rugged wilderness dotted with large boulders and progressed to dry, open farmland with sheep as brown as the dirt and the odd black toro relaxing under one of the many holm oaks that cover the Spanish countryside.
Out of this desolate landscape rose Salamanca, the warm brown sandstone buildings almost camouflaged against the terrain.
We made our way to our campsite on the other side of town and settled in for the night. The cloud cover kept away the frost, but it was still a chilly morning that greeted us.
Waiting for the bus with us were two English couples who were off on a 6-month tour of Spain and Italy in their campervans, and like us were heading south to avoid the bitter European winter. We told them our plans to head to Madrid after Salamanca and they admitted they had never thought of Madrid as a place to visit, we wondered why.
The bus pulled up in the centre of Salamanca and our first impressions were of a clean, stylish and lively city. The modern shopping precinct, with wide pedestrian streets, was packed with people taking advantage of the Black Friday sales. Impressive Christmas lights were strung across the streets and the smart stores were adorned in festive cheer.
We walked through the crowds to Plaza Mayor, the main square overlooked by the town hall clock tower and encircled by many archways leading to various streets and lanes. We stopped at the information bureau and got a better map than the campsite had offered then chose the archway that lead to the historic old city.
Salamanca is a university town and boasts the oldest university in Spain, founded in 1218. This prestigious university is the primary source of income for the city and the UNESCO listed historic university buildings are popular with tourists, the other main source of income for Salamanca.
Our first stop was La Casa de las Conchas, the house of shells, so called because the facade is decorated with hundreds of scallop shells. Not far from La Casa de la Conchas are the two cathedrals of Salamanca. They sit next to one another, but are completely different, being built in different periods. The new cathedral is the more imposing of the two and is one of the biggest buildings in the city. It was built in a mix of baroque and gothic style, while the old cathedral alongside it features Roman and gothic architecture. Both cathedrals are linked internally, so from inside it seems as if there’s only one. With no one around it was an ideal time to climb the 110-metre tower for a view over the city and countryside beyond. It was a great experience, as not only did we get to climb the tower, we had access to the roof, the walkway along the upper interior of the old cathedral overlooking the ornate sanctuary and a view through to the new cathedral, giving us the full experience of these magnificent structures.
Across from the cathedrals is the historic university precinct – a cluster of majestic buildings with richly carved facades, turrets, grand entranceways and courtyards. It is a beautiful area and was so nice to explore in the off-season when tourists are few and far between.
We continued down towards the Tormes River through the narrow-cobbled lanes, all pristinely clean and with not a trace of graffiti. The well preserved Roman bridge that crosses the Tormes was built in the 1st century BC, although some of the arches were reconstructed in the 16th century after a flood. Now a pedestrian bridge, it offered lovely views back to Salamanca, glowing golden brown in the fleeting sunshine, and we made the most of the photo opportunity.
The day had got away on us and it was time for a late lunch. We walked back up the hill, stopping at a quaint little shop to buy traditional Christmas biscuits, then past the touristy restaurant area, through to Plaza Mayor, and out another archway to a small square with a few cafes that looked to be frequented by locals. We chose one and settled on the 3-course ‘menu del dia’ (menu of the day) for 10 Euros. Our waiter only spoke Spanish and for some reason assumed I did too as he kept referring everything to me when he couldn’t communicate with Mr Love. We recognised enough of the menu items to make our selection; soup for entrée, chicken for Andrew’s main and for me the Callos Madrilenos that the waiter had assured me was delicious. Well, I have now tried tripe and I do not like it! At least we can’t be accused of not trying the local cuisine. The weather was starting to deteriorate and as I wanted to make the most of the Black Friday sales we headed back to the shopping precinct for a spot of shopping. Stocked up on essentials and with rain bucketing down we called it a day and caught the bus back to the campsite. The next day we were off to Madrid.
Madrid:
We avoided the motorway for the journey inland to Madrid and took our time, with a photo stop in the picturesque walled town of Avila, a picnic lunch in a rest area and some shopping at a Mercadona, our favourite Spanish supermarket. We crossed the Guadarrama Pass and were starting down the mountain range when we saw four high-rise buildings in the distance, far across the plains. This was our first sight of Madrid.
We had no preconceived ideas about Madrid. I had recently read a book about the city during the Spanish Civil war and the following years under Franco’s rule, but that was a bygone era. Most of the Brits that we have met in Spain have said they had never been and never intended too. We assumed it would be industrial and maybe a bit bland compared to colourful Barcelona which we both love so much.
It’s a flat city so it was difficult to see much as we drove around the ring-road to our campsite near the airport. After a chilly night with temperatures dipping into the negatives we awoke to a sparkling winter’s day. The forecast was for a high of 12 degrees. We wrapped up warmly and took the subway into the city centre, popping up beside the Teatro Real opera house, one of the many elegant buildings in Madrid and a brilliant first impression.
Madrid is a big city; in fact, it is the third largest in the EU behind London and Berlin. Because of the size and our limited time, we opted to take a bus tour around the city to get our bearings. The hop-on hop-off bus offered two routes, one through the historic area and the other out to New Madrid. The commentary was excellent and after going for the full circuit of the historic route we had our bearings and knew where we wanted to walk. It was a great introduction to this captivating city.
After getting off the bus we walked the short distance to Plaza Mayor, one of the famous squares in the heart of Madrid. The Christmas markets were already underway and street performers were entertaining the crowds. We bought a Christmas decoration for our van. Plaza Mayor is fully enclosed by three storey residential buildings with arcades running around the edges and a bronze equestrian statue in the middle. In the arcades and surrounding lanes there is an abundance of restaurants and tapas bars and just off the plaza is the historic wrought iron and glass Mercado de San Miguel filled with a wealth of gourmet food outlets. It was very enticing and was teeming with people, all standing around eating and drinking. We tried to find a spot to eat but gave up and chose a nearby tapas bar instead.
After lunch we walked to the Palacio Real, the imposing Royal Palace of Madrid that rivals any palace in Europe. The nearby Cathedral de la Almudena is just as magnificent and its striking blue-grey exterior quite unique. The cathedral was built on the site of a medieval mosque that was destroyed in 1083, another reminder of Spain’s rich Islamic history.
We were starting to notice the heavy police presence in Madrid. Large police vans and SUV’s blocked vehicle access to every pedestrian area and police stood on most street corners.
We walked along Callen de Bailen past the Plaza de Oriente. Street performers acting as human statues of all kinds lined the square. We saw many of these in Madrid, competition was hot. Maybe there was a law against noisy busking so they’ve all opted to be silent. Some were better than others.
We walked up to Parque de la Montana where the striking Egyptian Temple of Debod stands in the middle of a pool. Dating from the 2nd century BC, and, after centuries on Egyptian soil, this temple was brought to Spain as a gift from Egypt. The views from the park back to the palace and cathedral were beautiful.
From here we wandered across to Plaza de Espana proudly displaying a monument to famous Spanish novelist, poet and playwright Miguel de Cervantes. The statue of Cervantes overlooks bronze sculptures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, his most well-known characters.
Gran Via starts from Plaza de Espana and is one of the most important and symbolic arteries of downtown Madrid. Lined with shops housing internationally renowned brands, theatres, hotels, restaurants and cafés it is the Oxford Street of Madrid. Most impressive is the stunning architecture, a showcase of early 20th century styles and all beautifully kept. Madrid is sumptuous and sophisticated.
Then we stumbled upon Primark. Primark is Mr Love’s favourite store and this one was huge – even larger than Oxford Street. Inside the cavernous atrium we looked up at floor after floor of cheap clothing and accessories. We agreed to go our separate ways and meet back in half an hour. I tried to look for jeans, but the crowds were unbearable and the piles of denim all blurred into one, so I went and stood at our meeting place and waited, and waited, and waited. I was starting to get worried. What if he had suffocated under a pile of hoodies? Half an hour later he appeared with his new jeans, jacket, hoody and sweater, smiling from ear to ear.
After that retail therapy it was back to the cultural tour. We continued down Gan Via to Plaza Cibeles where the white wedding-cake-like Cybele Palace, now the City Hall of Madrid, dominates this lively square. A large banner welcoming refugees to Spain was strung across the front of the palace. In the middle of the square is Cibeles Fountain, the symbol of Madrid.
By this time, it was after 4 and we still hadn’t taken the bus tour around New Madrid. If we going to see it in daylight we needed to get cracking. We braved the chilly wind on the top deck and looked forward to seeing what the newer part had to offer. Wow, this city continued to impress. The modern architecture is bold and varied and makes a statement that this is indeed a city of the future as much as it is of the past.
Most impressive is the Plaza de Castilla bisected by paseo de la Castellana, one of the main thoroughfares of the capital. Here two shiny glass towers, each 114 metres high, tilt 15 degrees towards each other, reaching across the road creating the perception of an archway or gate to the city. Close to the towers is Obelisco de Caja Madrid, a golden obelisk built to mark the 300th anniversary of Madrid’s foundation. The sun reflecting on the gold as it reaches towards the sky and the light bouncing off the two towers gives a space age feel.
Not much further along are the four towers we first saw from over 50km away as we drove towards Madrid. All different styles, they represent Madrid’s most modern and futuristic part.
The bus continued past the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, the home stadium of the Real Madrid football team, one of the most successful teams in the world.
It wasn’t all modern, we were soon driving around the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas, the bullring. This bullring holds around 23,000 people and is one of the largest in the world. It was built in 1931 and uses a style of Moorish revivalist architecture called Neo-Mudéjar that was very popular in Spain in the early 20th century and is most distinguishable by the hand-painted tiles and the Islamic-style horseshoe arches. As much as we do not agree with bullfighting, this is a magnificent building.
It was starting to get dark and we were nearing the end of our bus tour. All day I had been looking in awe at the copious amounts of Christmas lights strung across the streets of Madrid, and the steel cone Christmas trees, made almost entirely of lights, that stood in every plaza. My one request for our visit to Madrid was to see the Christmas lights and all day I had been looking forward to 6pm and the switch to be turned on. Not a second late Madrid was twinkling. The view of the lights from the top deck of the bus was great but we were keen to get amongst the activity in the central pedestrian areas so jumped off near Puerta del Sol where there was a spectacular blue Christmas tree in the centre of the square. The place was humming. It seemed like everyone in Madrid was out in the streets getting into the festive spirit. What a way to end a fantastic day in a city that took no time to woo us, and what we now consider one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.
Caceres:
The historic city of Caceres is 300km southwest of Madrid and being on our path south I added it to our itinerary. At our usual meandering pace, it took most of the day to travel there from Madrid and by the time we arrived it was late afternoon. The campsite was fantastic. Each site had its own personal toilet and shower in a cute little outhouse, this won us over immediately. There were plenty of French, English and Swedish campervans there, all using it as a stopover on the way south for winter. We bumped into the two English couples we’d met in Salamanca and told them they missed a treat in Madrid.
Caceres ends abruptly, and farmland begins. The campsite was right on the edge of town, only a few kilometres from the centre but still bordering dry open fields. Rain was forecast, and much needed. We watched as the clouds rolled in and by dark the rain had started. It didn’t stop for 24 hours and we decided not to attempt to see the city in the wet but instead wait it out, we had a day up our sleeve so weren’t too worried.
After barely leaving the van for 24 hours, and my Fitbit recording the least number of steps ever, we were rearing to go when the sun rose on a sparkling crisp day.
Caceres’ small and perfectly preserved historic quarter reflects its history of battles between Moors and Christians with a mixture of architectural styles, from Roman to Islamic, Gothic and Italian Renaissance. Muslim history is everywhere, the Moorish city walls and towers are almost fully intact and the Arco de la Estrella (arch of the stars) with its typical Islamic horseshoe shape makes a dramatic entranceway to the old town. An underground Arab water cistern is beautifully preserved and protected in the basement of the town’s museum. We wandered through the cobbled lanes, visited the museum and stopped in at the San Francisco Javier church in Plaza de San Jorge, where for 1 Euro we climbed the twin bell towers for a view over the town and out across the brown parched countryside.
The town square beside the city walls was bathed in sunshine and we stopped for a late lunch. The many restaurants in the square all had their tables and chairs out but there was nobody around, the tourist off-season affecting business. Caceres is like two separate towns. The new, modern area was humming with people out shopping and eating, but the historic quarter was eerily quiet with only a handful of tourists about. Judging by the number of restaurants in the square the peak season must make it all worthwhile.
Spain knows how to look after its history and all the historic areas we have visited have been beautifully clean and cared for. Caceres was no exception and our decision to wait for the rain to clear was a good one.
The next day we were on the road again, off to the capital of southern Spain’s Andalusia region – Seville.
