Day 58, Friday 11/5:

After spending the bulk of the morning at home, we set off into the town to collect Patsy’s glasses before meeting Josefina for lunch at the Plaza Mayor. We had three courses for only €10, pretty good value! After lunch we wandered over to the University of Salamanca (one of the four oldest universities in the world) to have a looksee at their museum. Here they have one of the very few still in tact Verraco (looks like a cross between a pig and a wombat). These were a mythical Celtic god and are often seen at castles and other monuments, with the head missing, presumably fallen off due to the sheer age of these monuments. 

We then farewelled Josefina and moseyed over to the old and new cathedrals to check out their interiors. We also checked out the modern carvings found beside one of the side doorways, completed during recent maintenance. We had known of the astronaut and stalk (the bird variety), but not of a monkey eating an ice cream. It turned out to be more gargoyle-like than monkey, but we spotted it eventually. Patsy and I then went to try and find a geocache at the ‘Cave of Salamanca’, without success.

For dinner that night we met The Sisters (more of Philip’s Spanish friends), Adelaida, Manolita, Mari-Angeles and Mari-Tere, along with Isobel and Olga. It was a truly gourmet meal of no less than seven courses!