This is an update of our map, it shows the end of the cruise at Vega de Terron. Then the scrappy red lines I have drawn south a short distance to Salamanca and across to Madrid is the route we followed. Allthego must work out how to do this properly in the future.

After disembarking from the Estrela we boarded our coach and took off for Madrid. We had a stop after two hours at Salamanca. This is the famous old University town. The college of learning was granted university status in 1254 and is believed to be one of the oldest universities in Europe.

It had taken us two hours to get to Salamanca, including one of those endless bathroom stops some seem to need and enjoy. Anyway we had two hours at Salamanca that included a speedy walking tour of the main sites.

After the walking tour we had to get lunch for ourselves, so Allthego had a particular interest in looking in food vendor windows.

In early times the University was focussed on canon as well as civil law, but later expanded into the sciences, geography, astronomy etc. Christopher Columbus lectured here on his travels to the Americas.

In medieval times there were no printed books and hand written ones were scarce. So each day there were book readings to the assembled students in this room.

After the University we moved onto having a look at the enormous ‘New’ cathedral. It is built alongside the old cathedral. The two are linked by a passage way. The ‘New’ cathedral was built between 1533 and 1733 and was meant to replace the old cathedral which was considered too small. The old cathedral still functions, so it is all quite a large combined complex.

Next stop was the Shell House. A former family mansion built from 1493-1517. It is now a public library.

The facade of the building is covered with casts of scallop shells, arranged so that as the sun sets diagonal shadows are thrown across the wall. The ‘shell’ is a symbol of the Catholic ‘Order of Santiago’ and also of pilgrims who do the ‘walk of St James’, or the Camino de Santiago. There are some legends about the shells. One being that there is a gold coin under each shell.

The Roman bridge crossing the River Tormes was built from around 27CE. This section, which leads away from the city, is original whereas further along there has been restoration work. Up until the early 1970s it was used as a roadway, now a pedestrian pathway.

Our wandering off down to the river to see the Roman Bridge put a bit of pressure on the two hours we had. We got a little disorientated getting back to the big Square despite following the scallop shells on the footpaths. Made it eventually and gobbled down a Jamon (thin dried ham) and cheese croissant for lunch while we waited to rejoin the coach for Madrid.

On the way out of the city we passed a park in which a matador was displaying his style. Perhaps training for the next bull fight?

It took us another three uneventful hours to reach Madrid where we settled into our hotel around 4pm.