@ the village of Ledesma, near Salamanca

 

One of my favorite stops on our out of town excursions has been in the little town of Ledesma.  This town has a few thousand citizens and has a long history (just like everywhere else around here, I believe).  There are lots of poppies sprouting up amidst the stone streets.  The corridors are clean and the sky is clear blue.  The overlook of the surrounding countryside is very accessible and I had a chance to ask our guide about the agriculture in the area.  This is haying season, and there is only one cutting per year, as it is so dry.  There are co-ops that organize for the purpose of figuring out irrigation and we saw several fields with beef cattle and a few with dairy cattle. 

 

 

The guide pointed out that part of this bridge was dynamited when Napoleon was leaving town.

 

 Irrigation system.

It is hard to see out the bus window, but that is a stack of large square hay bales.  In one area near the border of Portugal, we saw round bales.

Herd of beef cattle. 

The old city gate.  Please note the stone "speed bump" in the center of the gate.  I imagine it was part of a door jamb back in the day, but it served as a speed bump for me. Ouch. Thankfully, nothing a little ice pack, ibuprofen and band-aids couldn't handle!  Note to self: when looking at the scenery, pay attention to 24 inch high stones in the middle of the street. One Spanish word I'll remember is knee (rodilla), since the rest of the day everyone kept asking how mine was :). 

One of the teachers in our group stopped by to talk to this friendly lady about her beautiful windowbox of geraniums.  Geraniums in many colors are a popular choice here.  I am guessing it is because they can stand the hot and dry summer climate here. 

Before we left town, we all stopped at the local diner.  The zucchini tapas were a surprise.  They looked exactly like the fried zucchini Ben's mom makes, but when we cut into it, the thin slices of zucchini were actually a sort of sandwich for ham, cheese, egg and onions.  Muy rica.

 

 

Caceres, est. 34 B.C.E....

After Merida, we were taken to Caceres, another city that has ancient roots.  It was founded by the Romans in 34 B.C.E. and has had a variety of inhabitants and governments, including the Moors in the 12th century.  The photo above was taken during siesta time (notice the absence of people in the background, we did not photoshop them out :) in the Plaza Mayor.  The plaza has several buildings dating to the 12th century.

 The most interesting part of the tour for me was going down below the Caceres museum (built by the Moors several centuries ago) to this cistern. One of the agreements in years past was that this water would be available to all citizens of Caceres in times of drought.  Through the centuries, water-rights have always been a concern, just as they are in many places today.

Merida, Spain, a city of ancient Rome...

One of the side trips arranged by Mester Academy was a trip to the city of Merida, a city founded by the Romans in 25 B.C.E.  We spent a couple hours there, eating a picnic lunch in the park (prepared by the cook at the residencia) and touring the museum.

 Below the museum is a crypt, and other remains of the city.



 

 

Ruins of the amphitheater.

 Oil lamps from the era.

Roman road.

Tiled mosaic floor preserved from the Roman era.  The tiles are about an inch square.

New Deaf friends!

So, half a day after I had found the book about Spain's Sign Language at the library, we met these two young Deaf ladies around the corner from our residence.  We had a great visit, and they gave us the address of the school where one of them is a student.  It is sort of like a technical school, as it is post-secondary.  I went the next day, and met the students in the photos below.  They are very patient in helping me to learn their Sign Language.  

During the 11:15 - 11:45 break, they took me around the corner to a café & tapa shop.  The café con leche served here is very easy to get used to and the tortilla española (potatoes, eggs & lots of olive oil)is just like Ben makes.

@ the school with one of the instructors (far right) 

 Sign Language Interpreter and the physical therapist 

 

Cooking class...paella!

Honestly, we do more than eat here.  However, food is just so photogenic, so excuse the lack of diversity in these posts. The director at Mester arranged for the group to go to a cooking class at a well known hotel and restaurant (once I remember the name of the place, I'll update this post).  The chef cooked paella, a traditional Spanish dish with chicken, shrimp, mussel, squid, rice, peppers and many other things I can't recall, simmered in a broth.  After watching him and his assistants cook the meal, we went upstairs to eat dinner that was preceded by a great parade of appetizers.  The combinations sounded rather unusual (violet ice cream and duck liver), but all tasted great!

 

 

 

Around town...

 

 

 

 

 

@ Ayuntamiento de Salamanca...the royal welcome!

King Juan Carlos' portrait is a central focus in the Ayuntamiento.

We have had several interesting experiences this past week.  On Wednesday, the group of teachers with the Mester Academy were greeted by the vice mayor at the city hall of Salamanca.  This city is quite a friendly place for students wanting to learn Spanish, and they make an effort to promote it as such.  Certainly, we have found Salamantinos to be very pleasant and the area is very safe.  Here are a few photos taken in the official greeting room, where other "important" people :) are also received.

Doesn't Ben look rather presidential? :)  I told him to show this to his students in the fall. :)

The view of Plaza Mayor from the balcony of the Ayuntamiento...

Discoveries @ Casa de las Conchas in Salamanca...

 

This morning, while Ben was in class, I took a walk to the Public Library, which is in a historic building, The House of Shells.  The following excerpt from the website link explains some details about this landmark:



http://www.travelinginspain.com/salamanca/salamanca2.htm Today the Casa de la Conchas is a modern library, but it was once a palace of Rodrigo Maldonado, a knight of the Santiago (Saint James) Order. The palace was built in the 1500’s. The shell that adorns the building is the emblem of the Santiago Order.

The inner courtyard of the Casa de las Conchas.

The library staff were very helpful, and seemed to understand my Spanish enough to help me find a book that teaches LSE (Spain's Sign Language) to children.  The book is very well done and features many photos of Deaf students demonstrating the vocabulary of LSE.  I hope I can order a copy of this book.  Below is the manual alphabet of LSE.