Category: Spain

Postcard from Salamanca, Spain: Loving the luxury of time to gaze at little things…

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Not surprisingly, we are not the only tourists in Spain. But so many visitors are forced to spread their time thinly, they often shortchange a place such as Salamanca, making it a quick day-trip.

This means you can visit a little gem such as the Convento de las Duenas virtually alone. You can stroll through slowly admiring the quirky grotesque carvings atop the columns and pausing before the collection of reliquaries containing bits and pieces of clothing of saints, or even parts of saints themselves.

In 1419, an aristocratic woman donated her palace for the Dominican order to found a convent suitable for admission of women from noble families, leading to the word “duenas” for describing the residents of the convent. Construction of the convent and the adjoining church took a little more than a century, resulting in a seemingly whimsical combination of Moorish, Gothic and Plateresque details.

Postcard from Salamanca, Spain: Books spoiling Plaza Mayor?

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Can’t believe it. Never ever thought I would do it. Complain about a book festival. Me?

The San Antonio Book Festival is my favorite event at home. But….

Salamanca’s Plaza Mayor is reputedly the must stunning plaza in Spain.

And, as such, it is overrun with tourists. People will wait in line a half-hour for ice cream.

We spent a week in Salamanca, and the entire time the plaza was filled with inartistic booths for a book festival.

During much of the daytime on weekdays, they were shuttered. Simply blocking the view. People willing to sit on the plaza were confronted with their almost trailer-court appearance.

But, when the Book Fair booths were open, things did not improve. Pre-fab booths, lacking in any customized personality, did not address the surrounding square. They faced only inward, addressing each other. Treating the Plaza Mayor as though it were a shabby backyard alley.

For people ringing the square, they faced just plain walls.

Definitely the wrong place for the Book Fair.

The one in Lisbon a year ago had personality.

The same type of cubicle setups followed us from Salamanca to Madrid, but parked in a linear park capable of accommodating the intrusion.

Hope the festival in Salamanca rethinks its plaza invasion. Or at least opens booths outward so the book vendors and browsers interact with and contribute to the liveliness of the spectacular surrounding plaza.

 

Postcard from Salamanca, Spain: Reflecting on restaurants away from the Plaza Mayor

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While waiting for a train, an American college student studying in Salamanca asked us how many times we had eaten on the Plaza Mayor. Our answer was not once, aside from a scoop of ice cream. Looking over what was being served atop the tables as we strolled through, we determined to seek Salamancan specialties elsewhere. We were well-rewarded.

El Club Nautico is a simple, straightforward restaurant preparing fresh seafood allowed to stand on its own. No overpowering sauces disguise their natural flavor. The grilled pulpo was seasoned the traditional Galician way, with paprika. Scallops were doused with olive oil and a touch of oregano. And vegetable-hungry, we were presented with a mountainous platter.

Naturally, we sampled a vegetarian restaurant, El Laurel. As with several restaurants, there is one host/waitperson/busser on the floor with the tables. The kitchen is on a floor below, a dumb-waiter linking the two. Somehow one person manages more efficiently than three or four at home. El Laurel’s salad arrived on a platter laden with rounds of goat cheese, fruits and greens. The asparagus risotto was wonderful, but the vegetable paella with its rather ordinary vegetables could be skipped. The ample salad and risotto would have been enough for both of us anyway.

La Hoja 21 dessert
La Hoja 21 salmon
El Pecado grilled vegetables
La Hoja 21 grilled calamari
El Pecado entryway
La Hoja 21 eggplant and mushroom risotto
El Pecado risotto
El Club Nautico scallops
El Club Nautico grilled pulpo
typical empanada of jamon and lomo
jamon Iberico
La Hoja 21 arroz con pulpo
El Pecado lemon dessert
El Pecado seafood pizza-crepe one
La Hoja 21 “moneybags” of goat cheese
El Club Nautico mountain of vegetables
El Laurel vegetable paella
El Laurel salad
El Pecado creamy lentil amuse bouche
helado on Plaza Mayor
El Pecado jam-stuffed tomato salad
El Laurel asparagus risotto
La Hoja 21 salad with cubes of mushroom pate
El Pecado seafood pizza-crepe two
La Hoja 21 raba de toro
El Pecado reflection

La Hoja 21 has a soothing dining room that drew us in twice. Although we rarely eat three courses at home, afternoon menu del dia combinations represent such incredible bargains in Spain. If you choose the one at La Hoja, you must remain in the front room without the linens. But you will not dine alone in exile; that seems to be where most locals eat as well. Delicate pastry tied up an appetizer of goat cheese-filled “moneybags.” Arroz con pulpo was enhanced with chunks of chorizo, and eggplant risotto was infused with the deep smokiness of wild mushrooms. Both salmon and grilled calamari arrived perfectly cooked, and the sauce of the Mister’s raba de toro (bull’s or ox-tail) was so vibrant and rich not a drop remained on his plate. What looked like an average fresh salad was filled with fluffy light cubes of wild mushroom pate. Definitely a restaurant not to miss.

If dining at El Pecado is sinful, we are doubly-guilty. The Mister fell for the light pizza-crepe bearing huge amounts of seafood; the one on our return visit proved even better than his first. On both visits we were greeted by a creamy lentil amuse-bouche. Tomatoes filled with raspberry jam and topped with rounds of goat cheese made a refreshingly different salad, while a honey-mustard sauce sweetened a plate of grilled vegetables. A rich risotto was among the menu del dia specials, followed by a sweet lemon crème topped with tart grated lemon peel. We would have sinned again if our stay had been longer.

And in Salamanca, jamon Iberico is found everywhere. Considering trying to seduce my sisters away from our traditional Smithfield ham at Thanksgiving….