University of Salamanca and surrounding area...

The University of Salamanca, founded in the 1100's, is the 3rd oldest continuously operating university in Europe.  We had a brief tour of some of the historic buildings and a few other nearby public spaces.

Door to a classroom.

An old lecture hall. I will never complain about uncomfortable seats :).

The library.

 This old sequoia is in a plaza inside the university.

 The ceilings are worthy of a photo.

http://campus.usal.es/web-usal/Ingles/Universidad/Historia/Historia.shtml

We also climbed up a tower of an old cathedral.  Actually, it is the "new" cathedral, as the original one, which is adjacent to the new one, was damaged by an earthquake in 1755.  Anyhow, the bonus of climbing the tower was a view of the city and surrounding countryside. 

 

Those who know me well will be impressed that I can coexist with the multitude of pigeons that inhabit this city. :) They are Everywhere.

Signs of Interpreters! (LSE-Spanish and ASL-English)

The sign for "interpreter" in LSE has 3 parts, shown here right to left.

This evening, Ben and I had a great visit with these two professional Sign Language Interpreters.  I met them at the school (center) I mentioned in an earlier post.  I had the awesome opportunity to observe both of them interpreting in the classroom.  Suffice it to say, I'm very impressed by their professionalism, skills and their rapport with clients and colleagues. 

Signs of Teixeiras in Miranda do Douro, Portugal...

 

When I learned that one stop on our weekend excursions was in Portugal, I was very excited because my Uncle Jorge Teixeira is originally from Portugal.  Immediately we found a place of business with the Teixeira name near the door :).  The small city of Miranda do Douro is just across the river from Spain, and our bus arrived during siesta time.  The streets were quiet as we wandered around the older part of the city, discovering the old city wall and city gate.  When the shops opened, we went into a store selling linens (Portugal's cotton products are quite popular) and the store owner was very friendly.  Ben has learned a bit of Portuguese and she kindly let him practice speaking a bit.  Below are the snapshots we took.  It was 96 degrees while we ate our picnic lunch under the shade trees near this fountain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Clearly, lavender is not allergic to heat and drought! We found this beautiful patch on a hill overlooking the river. 

 

A nod to the stereotype...

Before we left for Spain, our friend, Edward, cautioned us to not get trampled by the bulls. :)  Por supuesto, people often equate Spain with its tradition of bullfighting.  I'm not overly interested in sports, especially this one, but we did join two of the professors/guides from Mester, Carlos and Belen, in a tour of the local museum.  For more info on the museum:  http://www.museotaurinosalamanca.es/.  I should say that both Carlos and Belen are very knowledgeable and excellent guides.

 This cape is not light.

 A display of brands from the bull farms.

The clothing of the matadors can be quite ornate,

with real gold used for the embroidery.

@ 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