On the way to Madrid, Spain – April 25

We left the ship around 8 AM and began our drive to Madrid. We did have a stop in the town of Salamanca. Upon arrival we had a light lunch before we began our tour.

The country of Spain has a population of around 48 million. It is approximately the size of Texas. It is broken in 17 provinces, like our states. While driving the landscape changed to more plains like and the primary agriculture looked to be cattle raising. There were still vineyards and olive groves, but lots of cattle. We saw many stork nests, since this is their breeding season.

Salamanca is most famous for its Cathedral and its University. The Cathedral was begun in 1525 and took 200 years to finish. It is Gothic in style with 18 chapels surrounding the main part. They were putting out chairs because they were going to have a mass during the Pope’s funeral and they expected a great many people would attend. The cupola is 226 feet high.

After the Cathedral we walked to the University. It was founded in 1218 by one of the kings. The original languages used to study were Latin, Spanish and Hebrew. The original classrooms did not have desks or chairs or much light. The rich men who were attending the university usually had many servants with them and they would sit on the cold stone floor to warm it for their master. We saw a classroom that was over 600 years old. Currently the university has 55,000 students. In the Great Hall of the University were paintings by Goya. The first professors were monks and priests.

One of the symbols of the University is the frog. Incoming freshman have to locate it on the intricately carved entrance to one of the buildings.

We saw the seashell building which is now the public library. It was built in the 16th century honoring the wife whose coat of arms had seashells.

We then had free time to wander around the town and also saw the Plaza Major, center of town.

We then finished our ride to Madrid. When we arrived we had about 30 minutes before we left on a Tapas Tour. Our first stop had us drinking Spanish vermouth, a delicious drink like a sweet red wine, nothing like the vermouth used in the US for martinis and croquettes. Our second stop had us eating amazing shrimp cooked in olive oil and garlic and peppers cooked in a similar manner.

It was a long day and we were glad to get back to the hotel for some rest.