Salamanca – The perfect excursion from your Duoro river cruise….

A couple of months ago, I had a 3-night stay in Salamanca, one of Spain’s most historic cities.  I did the trip as an aside from Madrid, taking just 2 hours by train, but many people can visit this amazing place from a Duoro river cruise, as the turnaround point for most Duoro river cruises is also just a couple of hours away by bus, and is a popular day excursion, offering a change of scenery from your typical Portuguese backdrops……the dry plains of Spain are very different to the lush-green riverside views of northern Portugal.

Salamanca boasts the oldest university in Spain, and the centre of the city is an impressive range of beautiful sandstone buildings, consistently engineered from the same lightly-coloured stone, with impressive attention to detail.  Two of the many highlights are the cathedral and ‘Plaza Mayor’, photographed below.

Another ‘must see’ is the traditional ‘Tuna’ singing performances, which used to be performed around the old city by the University students, in order to raise cash for their’ studies.  These are now performed by more professional outfits, and can be seen late afternoon / early evening around the cathedral.  You can also visit the museum of the Spanish civil war, and there’s also an art museum next door.

I stayed in the ‘Parador de Salamanca’, which is a state-run chain of (usually) 4* hotels which offers great value for money, and can be either purpose-built hotels with modern facilities, or traditional/historic buildings with tons of character.  You can easily combine a stay in Salamanca with a stopover in Madrid, as I did…the train only costs about £20.00 one-way, and takes just over 90 minutes, if you take one of the fast services.

Overall, Salamanca provides a relaxing stay, which contrasts well with the relative chaos of Madrid, or is a very enjoyable end point for your river cruise.