Salamanca

I caught the train up to Salamanca on Monday morning. I had to catch it early as I had to take the train way back up to Madrid, take another commuter train to another station, and then get on another relatively long (by Spain’s standards) train to Salamanca. So I spent the majority of the day just traveling, but that allowed me to finally catch up on my blogging (you may have noticed a flurry of new posts in the past couple days). I was glad I got going early as it really allowed me to appreciate the evening in Salamanca. None of the sights there are really A-list items, but it was very enjoyable due to its massive and incredibly lively central square, the Plaza Mayor. I had read that this is one of the best people-watching spots in Europe, and it didn’t disappoint. There were some particularly amusing antics going on as Salamanca is essentially a college town known for having one of the oldest universities in Europe and the annual “frosh week” that occurs at the beginning of each academic year was going on. For those not familiar with this, think of it as a type of light fraternity/sorority hazing that goes on for all the new students at the school. As a result, the square was often filled with groups of young students with painted faces wearing their underwear on the outside of their pants performing flamenco, throwing baby powder at each other, or engaging in other types of wacky bullshit which I’m too old and too American to understand. (I had actually seen a similar thing going on in Granada while I was there, too.)


I didn’t experience anything particularly unique food-wise while I was there. The first night I hit a local place and got the braised pork cheeks, which were good but certainly didn’t wow. I did really like the tapas place I went to the second night, though. This place was a little more modern and fancy with its tapas (although most were again things I had seen at other places). I also really liked the vibe. It had a pretty normal, rustic look to it, buy they were playing thinks like “Shout” and “Surfin’ Bird” on the stereo and was filled up with a relatively young local crowd. I initially screwed up by accidentally re-ordering the same pork cheeks I had the night before. However, I had a couple more tapas, the standout of which was the seared duck with orange marmalade and chocolate. I had actually seen this on the menu at another place on the trip and didn’t have an opportunity to try it as I had other priorities at the moment, so I decided to pull the trigger on it this time (I love duck). It was pretty good, as the chocolate really worked with the gaminess of the duck. I actually think I make a better orange pan-sauce for duck at home, but I may try adding in the chocolate here when I get my next couple duck breasts this fall.

After two nights and a day in Salamanca I headed to Segovia, stopping in Avila on the way. This was a cute little town with a huge medieval wall, but the highlight was a vinoteca I went to for lunch. They had a fantastic selection of wines by the glass including a couple ones with some good bottle-age on them, including a 2003 Reserva Rioja and a 2001 Crianza. It was also one of the places that gives you a free tapa when you order a glass of wine. This is common in Granada, but all the other cities I went to you had to purchase any tapas. There are apparently just some places or cities that still do it the old-school way and give you a free little surprise whenever you order a drink. I’m personally a fan of the old school train of thought.

The wine bar was also very enjoyable as I got into a long conversation with the Mexican girl working it. And this sealed the verdict—I just do not get the Spanish accent all that well. During the trip I was beginning to think my Spanish wasn’t nearly as far along as I had believed before leaving. I very often had difficulty conversing at length with Spaniards, even in pretty straightforward conversations that I would not have expected to have problems with. However, with this girl we just chatted away about where she was born and how she ended up in Spain, the characteristics of some of the wine regions in Spain, my trip, whatever. I guess I got too used to talking to Mexicans and Puerto Ricans back home.