Salamanca

Here I am, seated in froñt of a español keyboard at an internet cafe on the Plaza Mayor of Salamanca. In the shade; the temperature is steadily climbing up the deep azul sky.

Arrived yesterday, uneventful, had a few all too good wines at the wine bar I ended up finding again after four years of absence. After I got up this morning, I went out to the mercado municipal to stock up on a cortado coffee, and bought some cheese and a few lengths of salchicón, two "mini" croissants and two peaches, which I proceeded to eat (part of)in the hotel room, and which shall serve further tomorrow morning, when I leave early.

Then I went to search for the pilgrim's albergue, which was closed, but now I know it opens at 4 PM, when I'll be able to get my departure stamp in the pelgrim's booklet attesting, upon arrival at Santiago de Compostella, to the route I will have travelled.

I stayed a while in the cathedral, which I previously remembered as a dark, brooding place. Today, the sunshine shone through the windows, and the baroque religious music transformed the edifice into a blazing ode to Spanish imperial grandeur. The opulence of the architecture; the transformation into stone and sculpture of a certain kind of arrogance. An impressive psychological start to what would assumedly be a humble enterprise, the Camino de Santiago.

Briefly, I stopped over at the entrance to the old University of Salamanca, at the "Patio de las Escuelas", my old "alma mater" insofar as Spanish studies are concerned. Intending to ask for the whereabouts of an internet cafe, I entered into the secretariat and, behold, there stood my grammar teacher from my two-week 2005 classes. We had a most entertaining and gratifying conversation in which I would hope she noted the progress I since made in castilian.

Right now at this very moment (it's noon) the cathedral carillon is being played. Compared to the Antwerp carillon, it sounds rather more like some one playing some old pots and cracked pans. Ah, sweet carillons of Flanders...

Tomorrow I leave at 08:00 sharp.
A big hug to all of you!
And Irene, Nigel, Haroun: ¡besos!
Paul