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Salamanca
«Salamanca tiene la universidad más antigua de España.»Salamanca has the oldest university in Spain.
Salamanca is on the right bank of the Tormes, in the middle of the Castilian Meseta, and it grew around a university founded in 1218, one of the oldest in Europe. The historic centre is built almost entirely with Villamayor sandstone, which turns golden at sunset: that is why it is called the golden city.
Did you know
There is an astronaut on the cathedral
On the facade of the new cathedral, a modern astronaut is carved, added during the 1992 restorations.
How they talk in Salamanca
«Charro» historically indicates the people and culture of the province, and «tormesino» refers to the río Tormes. The local Castilian is close to standard, but the rural Salamancan vocabulary remains very present outside the university environment.
Everyday life in Salamanca
The «frog» on the university facade
On the university portal there is a tiny frog sculpted on a skull, and finding it without help is a game that has been played for centuries: students say it brings luck in exams.
«¿Has encontrado la rana?» — Have you found the frog?
The Plaza Mayor as a living room
The Baroque square, closed on four sides, is the point you pass through anyway: you cross it to go everywhere, you arrange to meet under a specific arch, and in the evening it fills up.
«Quedamos bajo el reloj.» — Let's meet under the clock.
Thirty thousand students change the city
The university is from 1218 and students are a third of the inhabitants: from June to August the city empties and changes face, and from September it returns to being full at night.
«En verano la ciudad se queda vacía.» — In summer the city is empty.
What to eat in Salamanca
Hornazo
Tall savoury pie filled with loin, chorizo and hard-boiled egg, which is eaten in the countryside on the Monday after Easter.
Jamón de Guijuelo
Iberian ham cured in the town of Guijuelo, right here, where the dry cold does the rest.
Chanfaina
Rice cooked with lamb offal, chorizo and spices, served in an earthenware dish.
Bollo maimón
Tall and fluffy ring cake made of eggs and flour, not very sweet, which is taken to weddings.
Festivals in Salamanca
Lunes de Aguas
the Monday after the octave of Easter
People go out to the banks of the Tormes to eat the «hornazo», the bread filled with cured meats: it was the day when women returned to the city, and it is still celebrated.
What to see in Salamanca
Plaza Mayor
The Baroque square of 1755, with the medallions of kings and characters above the arches.
Universidad de Salamanca
The Plateresque facade of 1529, a stone embroidery two storeys high, with the frog hidden.
Catedral Nueva y Vieja
Two attached cathedrals, one Romanesque and one Gothic, which are visited one after the other.
Casa de las Conchas
Gothic palace covered by three hundred and fifty stone shells sculpted one by one.
Where Salamanca comes from
Eight hundred years of university
Iron Age
Helmántica
Oppidum of the Vettones on the hill that dominates the ford of the Tormes.
220 BC
Hannibal
Hannibal conquers it: it is the first documented fact of its history.
1218
The General Study
Alfonso IX founds the university: it is among the first four in Europe and has never closed.
16th century
The Golden Age
With more than six thousand students it is one of the intellectual centres of the continent: the new cathedral and the Casa de las Conchas arrive.
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