25th July 2022: Half a day {Salamanca, July 2022}

Mondays are always tricky because a lot of things close then. We reprised our latte/croissant and visited the Tourist information office that claimed that everything was open – which… was incorrect. My companion wanted to see Iglesia de San Marcos, a Romanesque church which has an interesting circular shape, probably built in the 11th century (that we had found in the book we got from the cathedral).

A Romanesque church. It has a round nave and a short bell tower with two bells.

We saw the local market Mercado Central de Salamanca, designed by the same architect as the Casa Lis. As this is a public building, it was in working order – though funnily enough, all the fishmongers were closed – no fish in Salamanca on Mondays! The building is modernist, with iron structures and colourful windows.

A Modernist building with colourful glass windows

To finish off the morning we went to visit the palace Palacio de la Salina, also a public building so also open. The architect in the project was Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón (who also designed the University building in Alcalá de Henares). It was built in 1538, mainly in Plateresque style, with some Italian elements.

The patio of a Plateresque palace, in gold tones with a lot of decoration on the stonework

Right across the park from the palace there is a lonely Renaissance tower Torre del Clavero. It was a 15th-century defence tower, with a square base that turns octagonal in height.

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We walked around for a while longer, had lunch, and our train back left around 3:30. It was a rather uneventful trip full of gothic, modernism and iron, which I really enjoyed. I keep trying to get to like guided visits, and I have somehow got fond of climbing up towers.

Walking distance: 11737 steps / 7.31 km