Iglesia de San Marcos | JBinnacle

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.

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

The year my father retired we went to have a nice weekend out, and we chose to drive to León, a historical city towards the north of Spain. I had to work on Friday afternoon, so we drove off in the early evening and reached Leon after dusk. We were staying at the Parador, called Hostal de San Marcos for a couple of nights. The building was luxurious, it was one of those one-in-a-lifetime experienced. The hotel is a former convent built in the 16th century, and it distils magic.

On Saturday morning we set off to visit the Basílica de San Isidoro de León, a Christian church dating from the 10th century. It is famous due to the 12th-century paintings that decorate the Pantheon of the Kings of León underneath the church.

After this, we walked into the town centre and we came across the Casa Botines, a Modernist-style building erected by Gaudí, now a bank.

A bit further we saw the came across the local seminary, the Seminario de San Froilán.

We went on and found the local farmer’s market, the Mercado Tradicional de Productos Agrarios, which was in the Main Square of the city.

Finally, we circled back towards the cathedral, Santa María de León, a Gothic building built in three steps – the main building was built all throughout the 13th century, the north tower in the 14th century, and the south tower in the 15th century. The difference in the towers is easy to spot (≧▽≦). One of its key features are the stained-glass windows.

Upon leaving the cathedral, one of my favourites, by the way, we took an extra walk in the historical area, and found cool buildings and decorations.

We had lunch, then returned to the Hostal de San Marcos. On our way back we found the cutest sweet shop that made adorable chocolate figurines.

We saw the Iglesia de San Marcos, the adjacent church, and then I explored the whole hotel a little.

Also, I discovered that I could see the Puente de San Marcos, a stone bridge over the Bernesga River, from my room.

We drove off on Sunday morning, because the weather was nasty and the forecast was worse, so we wanted to be out of the area when the storm really hit. But before that I managed to get to the second floor of the cloister and explore some more.