Salamanca
Recommended Tours

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From Puente Romano (Roman Bridge) to the Filmoteca (Film Library)

If you like walking, visiting monuments and going to museums, then this is the tour for you. Starting at Puente Romano, where you can see the famous bull from the first picaresque novel Lazarillo de Tormes, walk along Paseo del Rector Esperabe where Iglesia de Santiago (St James Church) is also located here. Continue along and you will see the ruins of another church, the Iglesia de San Polo, where a hotel now stands. Right beside this is El Carmen de Abajo. Carry on along Arroyo de Santo Domingo, under a small bridge that links the San Esteban Convent. You can visit Santo Tomás Cantuariense Church.

Reaching Paseo de Canalejas, cross over the road and visit Santa Clara Convent. From here, and taking in Plaza de Bretón and Calle Banzo, you will reach Plaza de San Cristóbal where there is a Sancti Spiritus Church. From Ronda de Sancti Spiritus go down to the first street on the left. You will come out into Plaza de la Constitución (Constitution Square). Cross Gran Vía and you will find yourself in front of the San Julián Church. To finish up, dont miss the Casa de las Viejas (House of the Old Ladies) in the Calle Gonzala Santana where the "Artilugios para fascinar" (Gadgets to Fascinate the Beholder), Basilio Martín Patino's collection. No doubt this tour will fascinate you.

From the Plaza Mayor to the Museum of History

A short tour has the advantage of taking less time and also means you have to walk less. This tour packs many points of interest into a short time, and you are sure to like it. To start off, depart from the place most characteristic of Salamanca's architecture, and one that is known the world over: the San Martín Church. Leave the church through the door that comes out into Rúa Mayor. Take a leisurely walk along this street: on the right you will see the Clerecía Church and the San Sebastián Church on the left. Even many Salamanca citizens are not familiar with this church. Right beside it is Hospedería (old residence).Catedral Vieja (old cathedral) with the Torre del Gallo, the chapel of San Martín and the main chapel.

So as not to tire you too much, especially if you visit both cathedrals, all you have to do now is cross over Plaza de Juan XXIII to visit one of the many museums in Salamanca, the Palacio de la Salina, where the County Council is located. Return to Calle San Pablo and walk to the right. You will see Palacio de Abrantes. Opposite this you can visit the 17th-century Church of San Pablo.

In a very concentrated space you have already seen many places, but there is plenty more to behold. If you carry on down, the fourth road on the right (Cuesta de Carvajal) takes you to a world full of legends. Huerto de Calixto y Melibea and the Jardines del Visir.

There are still a lot of places to visit. If you take Patio Chico and Calle Gibraltar, you arrive at the Casa Lis. Right beside it is the Archivo Histórico Nacional (National Archive of History), where you will see a reproduction of a Casa Museo de Unamuno (Unamuno House and Museum) and Patio de Escuelas with the plateresque façade of the Patio de Escuelas Menores where the tour draws to a close.

The Almost Circular Tour, from the Palacio de Congresos to the Clerecía

The old and the new blend together on this tour, which starts in nearly the same place as it ends. Start at Cuesta de Oviedo where you see a very large, modern building erected in 1992. This is the Auditorio de San Blas (San Blas Auditorium) and Veracruz Chapel, Santa María de los Caballeros Convent, with the statue of Unamuno opposite, worked in bronze by Pablo Serrano to pay homage to the famous Salamanca philosopher and writer of the Generation of 98.

By now you are in Calle Bordadores. If you look behind you, you will see two houses, that of Ovalle, where Miguel de Unamuno died in 1936, and Palacio de Monterrey belonging to the Duchess of Alba. Turning to the right you enter the old world Calle Compañía, and arrive at Plaza de San Benito where the Casa de Solís and Universidad Pontificia (Pontifical University), the Casa de las Conchas (House of Shells). Not far from here you return once again to the Museo Taurino (the bullfighting museum) in Calle Doctor Piñuela, very near the Sala de Exposiciones Unamuno (Unamuno Exhibitions Hall) where young artists display their works.

At the end of Cuesta del Carmen, turn right into the Plaza de San Juan Bautista, where Casa de Santa Teresa de Jesús. Opposite is Casa de Doña María la Brava and Colegio de San Elías.

Now nearing the end of our tour, go up Calle Zamora, full of art galleries, taking in the Carmelite church and the circular church of Plaza de Toros de la Glorieta, the bullring that for over 100 years has played host to some of the greatest and most renowned figures of the bullfighting world.