After five very enjoyable nights in the Paradore of Ciudad Rodrigo we were on the road from Ciudad Rodrigo to Salamanca.
A walk along the river
But before leaving I needed a short walk along the river to loosen up. This was my last day of anti-inflammatory pills and I wanted to help myself as much as possible. Then we crossed the old bridge and took a last photograph of the town.
As we left I saw the three pillars
Countryside
The countryside between the two towns is very flat! And it was another hot day – 31C – farmers, cattle, sheep and goats must have a very hard life here! Cereal crops and legumes are cultivated – Spanish dried beans are delicious! – and beef and pigs are kept. Fighting bulls are bred in this area too.
The Parador of Salamanca
The Parador stands on the hill opposite the town, with a very fine view of the Cathedrals. We sat on the terrace with drinks to while away the time before clocking into our AirBnB.
Settling in to our AirBnB
Well, it wasn’t quite what we had anticipated. Firstly the garage was two floors below ground, at the bottom of a spiral ramp which had to be negotiated at 1m/hour with an inch or two on either side of the car. We are also charged more than the advertised rate. Then the lift, promised in the advert, didn’t exist. This meant dragging the cases up the ramp and up the pavement and some steps. As I couldn’t lift or carry this wasn’t good news.
The flat was nice but very small. I had noticed a small supermarket five minutes away and this was when we found we are at the bottom of a steep hill and hills were not a good idea for me. And there was no food in this supermarket.
We took a deep breath and made a cup of black tea, then set out an hour later to investigate a second, suggested supermarket. It had no food either so we had a beer at the small cafe next to the shop, and wondered ‘what next’. Should we jack it in and move on? As we walked back to the flat and we noticed the Cathedral towering above us – beautiful – and this is a World Heritage City. Then I noticed the San Polo Hotel – well, we are intrepid travellers, not wimps, and self-catering accommodation doesn’t require you to cook all the time, so we asked if they could feed us – success! All sorted out with a bottle of red wine…
The road from Ciudad Rodrigo to Salamanca was fine but I made what felt like a big mistake with the accommodation this time! We will have to be ‘intrepid travellers’ for the next few days – fingers crossed my back holds out.
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