As promised, the rains have come.  Overnight and now, in the morning, it is still pouring pretty steadily.  Out the window goes our morning walk.  So, it is relaxing in the apartment, having breakfast and coffee and just hanging out until a little before 10am when we have our tickets for the cathedrale.  And we are in luck – right before 10, the rains stops – travel mojo at it’s best! 

Leaving the apartment, we find our Luxor contact (whose name we still don’t know – and obviously will never know) at his desk in the lobby, and we finally check in.  He is absolutely adorable, and we stop to chat for a bit.  Then off we go, out into the quiet, empty Sunday morning Salamanca streets.  Past La Clerecia and the Casa de las Conchas we visited yesterday, and onto Catedral Nueva for our pre-booked tickets and self-guided tour.

The “New” Cathedrale was built between 1533 and 1733 (new being relative), a mix of Gothic and Baroque styles, and is one of the largest in all of Spain.  It is constructed right next to Catedral Vieja (the “old” cathedrale), which originally was going to be demolished, however it was kept open for services during construction of the new cathedral.  Once the new cathedral was completed, the diocese rethought the idea of demolishing the old church, and so it remains today.  Our tour starts in the overly ornate new cathedral with its 20 lateral chapels and 3 naves.  Just totally overwhelming and stunning.

The choir, with it’s two sections all in carved wood, and the two massive organs are beautiful and amazing pieces of work, sat square in the middle of the cathedrale near the beautifully carved dome.

There is a service going on while we are exploring the cathedral, and even though we aren’t religious in the least, the singing and the prayers echoing through the massive cathedral (albeit from the speakers that are strategically placed around the Nave) does sort of give you goosebumps.  Haunting, really.

Circling the naves and the chapels, we find the vestibule leading to the old cathedrale.  Built in the 1100s, and completed in 1236, the Catedral Vieja is more Romanesque than Gothic, which you can see in the columns and the arch ribbing.  Much more plain and simple than the new cathedrale, we are actually more enchanted with this one.

There are gorgeous restored frescoes on the walls, and the simpler, streamlined main seating area are beautiful in their simplicity.

The main altarpiece presents the cycle of life of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, from birth to the Last Judgment.  It is the work of 3 separate artists but comes together in a stunningly cohesive (and very gold) tableau.

Some of the chapels are simply built into the massive walls, with the carving of the Saint’s body atop their coffin and once again, incredible colorful frescoes.

And ok, so the little headless statues just fascinate me – probably the most out of everything. I can’t explain it…..

There are also two organs on display – one a portable organ that was entirely rebuilt, standing in front of the altar. The other is one of the oldest organs in Europe, sitting high up on the wall in its own separate balcony.

Done with the cathedrale tour, we head out into the semi-overcast, but thankfully dry, day and walk across the street to the Museo Art Nouveau & art Deco, located in a gorgeous small palace, called Casa Lis, originally built for a merchant from Salamanca who loved Art Nouveau.  Inside the museum (sadly we were not allowed to take pictures, although I sorely wanted to!), is an incredible collection of everything from porcelain to enamel figurines to art deco glass and perfume bottles to bronzes and Bauhaus School metal art to jewelry and a whole section on the circus and dancing with amazing figurines and statuettes.  Seriously hard not to take photos!

Ok – so we do take some photos, but they are out the stained-glass window overlooking the cathedrales.  We don’t think that counts as breaking the rules!

There is also this bizarre doll section, 3 or 4 full rooms of French dolls and German dolls, including the little kewpie dolls that were made famous in the era, but are still popular today in films.  There are toys and weird ceramic heads that are used as toothpick holders (bizarre!) along with period furniture and a fan collection.  I could go on.  Most incredible is that most of these objects were in the collection of one individual, Don Manuel Ramos Andrade, who donated his entire collection to the community of Salamanca when he died. 

The last rooms on the first floor contain a special exhibit dedicated to Fernando Botero.  You know, the painter who took Ruben-ism to a higher level with paintings of very rotund naked women. Almost satirical, a combination of Western art and Mexican muralist, you would know his paintings if you could see them (once again, no photos).  Very interesting and colorful and well, as the phrase has been coined, Boterismo.

On our way back toward the apartment, we stop at the Episcopal Palace, which is now a museum housing much religious art as well as some fine examples of domed ceilings and stained glass.

It is close to lunch time, so we head back toward home, snapping photos of the exterior of the new Cathedral with the incredible carvings, as well as other beautiful architectural which surrounds us completely in this town. 

Today we are finally going to La Muse, the cool little tapas bar behind the apartment that we missed last night.  We know lunch begins at 1pm, so we get there early enough to hang out for while and have a drink before finally ordering an excellent Iberica burger for Ed (Pork burger with great toppings) and a Cryspy burger for me (it’s a chicken burger, sort of a chicken patty, but with excellent taste and super good toppings).  Way too much food – but at this point – we aren’t paying attention. We can fast when we get home!

The funniest thing though is that we are the only people ordering food-food. Everyone else is just ordering tapas.  Ok – so not like they can’t figure it out – but yeah, big “Touron” T on our foreheads!

Later in the afternoon we take our afternoon stroll around the town, making our way back out to the Puente Roman, then across to the other side of the city for a walk along the Rio Tormes.  A lovely long walk in what is now becoming a little warm, partly sunny day.

Back at the apartment, we organize ourselves for our final days in Portugual, and then decide since we are not that hungry, and don’t want to wait until 8pm to try to find food, we will have Argentinian Empanadas from the place a couple of blocks away. We have walked by this place multiple times in the last 2 days and they have tons of different types of empanadas – so we figure, why not?  We’ve got wine, we’ve got beer, why go anywhere?  And the empanadas are adorable! Each has the type basically branded on the top of the dough so you don’t get confused on which is which. Brilliant!  Ed gets a Chorizo picante and a Smash burger (tastes like the real thing! It is great!) and I get a Croqueta Jamon and an Oh My Goat! (filled with goat cheese and caramelized onion – Yum).

And that was a perfect meal to end our 2 day stay in Salamanca.  Too terribly fun!