In an earlier post, I had hoped to travel to northern Spain after my wife concludes a trip provided by an insurance company with 5 nights in Madrid and 4 nights in Barcelona. We will take day trips to Toledo and El Escorial while in Madrid and day trips to Montserrat and Gerona while in Barcelona. Our scheduled itinerary ends on April 16, right in the middle of Semana Santa, and we can only extend our trip till Monday
April 21.

I have browsed several Spanish websites, and searched madridman.com to determine where we could spend several days to enjoy Semana Santa and other activities. I do know Sevilla is the favorite choice for Semana Santa, but I would enjoy sometime less crowded, and we visited Sevilla last year. Both Salamanca and Caceres are a short trip from Madrid where we end our scheduled itinerary. Please provide me with recommendations

Oh, we will visit northern Spain on our next trip.

Salamanca, of course.

Oh, Carmen, you look so in love with Salamanca. Cáceres is very beautiful too, is one of my favourites. As they're not so far from Madrid I've visited both very often.
I don't know about Semana Santa events, but spring in Caceres province is beautiful. Maybe with the 5 days you have you could visit both.
2 days for each of the towns is enough, although the whole provinces worth.

Miguelito... yeap!!!That´s because my mom was born there!!!! I really love the city.

Salamanca is my choice as well. It has a reasonable Semana Santa "festival", but the real action is a bit north in Zamora. The beauty of the old quarter of Salamanca, to me, is unmatched in Spain. The Plaza Mayor is the finest in the country, and the chance at seeing the Tuna out at night singing and playing from place to place is unique. One vote for Salamanca.

What would these places be like in February? I am looking for a place to go for a couple of days after arriving Friday morning (the 21st). My safe haven is Toledo, but part of me would like to see a new location. I prefer smaller locations because I am traveling alone.

I´d propose a trip (3/4 days) from Madrid.

1st day: have lunch in Trujillo (250 kms) (medieval castle, romanesque churches, renaissance palaces....), pls have lunch in "La Casa de la Troya" at the Plaza Mayor. Spend night in Cáceres (50 kms from Trujillo). Old town is incredible, it is ideal for american people )

2nd day: have lunch in Plasencia (this village has two cathedrals (romanesque and ghotic). (Aprx 90 kms from Cáceres).

You can arrive to Salamanca by night (110 kms from Plasencia) and spend two days in this marvellous town.

I am sure that you will enjoy and will thanks me.

Regards
ABP

CaliBasco

Okay. Who or What is the "Tuna" ?

ABP

Do you have any other recomendations on lodging and where to eat?

I cannot believe that Calibasco recomend to you the Tuna, I hate it so much.
It's a group of 'students' (normally they have an age in which they should have finished studying) that dress like long time ago and go singing songs and trying to make 'jokes' (they think they're soooo fun) and to meet girls. I don't know if girls can join the Tuna, or if there are separated groups of Tuna girls...

I think the Tuna is fun...and the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca gets my vote too! The Tuna singers are a bit silly/cheesy/kitschy, but it's fun to hear live music in the Plaza at night. I have also heard other musical groups there, and watched lots of older people dance in the Plaza. I've also got a photograph of a female Tuna member, so I think they allow women to join.

It's all part of the Salamanca experience...and Salamanca is one of my favorite cities in the world!

Tara

No question, Salamanca! The Plaza Mayor is the best in Spain! And if you find the frog in front of the University, you'll be lucky the whole year!

In that time ("Semana Santa"), you will have problems with hotels, you have to book before.

Semana Santa is nice in that areas with several processions by the old medieval towns. I insist, that trip is ideal for american people and you can see both Cáceres and Salamanca.

In Cáceres pls have dinner in "El Figon" ask "caldereta" (stew of lamb), or "migas".

In Salamanca there are good restaurants near Plaza Mayor.

Luck
ABP

Can I stay in Salamanca and travel to Zamora for Semana Santa? Is there a website listing the Semana Santa activities and times for Salamanca, Caceres, and Zamora? If not when I arrive where could I find the information?

Check out the Official website for the Semana Santa in Zamora .

Have a look also at the Semana Santa in Spain guide

I'm with ABP for Trujillo and Plasencia. Both merit at least a day each. Plasencia is the "pincho" capital of Spain. We got some awesome pinchos with our cervezas and spent an embarassing 3 euros for lunch, including 2 kids! It was incredible.

Trujillo is also a gem. Yes, Salamanca is beautiful and not to be missed, but don't overlook the little places. They have so much charm!

Caceres is definitely worth the trip 2 days should be enough. I went to merida and caceres last weekend. The plaza mayor in caceres is nice. I feel as if the people are more friendly in caceres than here in sevilla. At the clubs people would introduce themselves to me and my friends. They were interested in us.

I want to thank everyone for his or her advice. There are so many interesting places to visit in Spain; you cannot visit this beautiful country in one trip.

This will be our second trip to Spain. We were originally told we would be visiting during Semana Santa, however we will now be traveling the second and third weeks in March. An insurance company awarded my wife a tour and we will be visiting Madrid and Barcelona for 4 nights each. We will arrive early and visit Salamanca for three nights at the Palacio Castellanos. Salamanca was the favorite among those offering advice.

At the end of our tour we will travel from Barcelona to San Sebastian, I have a customer whose headquarters are located in San Sebastian. Our visit to San Sebastian will last three nights, thanks to Bancotel we are staying at the Maria Christina. We will end our travels by taking the overnight train from San Sebastian to Madrid.

I would welcome any suggestions on attractions and restaurants in Salamanca or San Sebastian, and along the drive to each of our destinations.

Cáceres will have to be a destination for our next trip to Spain.

I arrived yesterday from a trip to Salamanca. It is a beautiful city indeed.

Places to visit: Catedral Nueva, Catedral Vieja, Universidad (there are half a dozen historical buildings), Plaza Mayor, Monasterio de San Esteban, Roman Bridge, Casa Lis, Filmoteca Española, Casa de las Conchas,...

There are great places to eat in Salamanca. In the same block as Casa de las Conchas (in which you also have the Oficina de Turismo or tourism office) there are two good places: El Bardo (something expensive but great food) and El Patio Chico (reasonable price and superb quality). In the Plaza Mayor you have El Cervantes, a place to have some tapas. There are many other great places, ask locals or in the tourism office.

The monuments go from roman style (the bridge) to romanic (old cathedral), gothic (new cathedral), plateresque (Casa de las Conchas and the University), barroc (a part of the new cathedral), and even neoclassic (some university buildings). It is just incredible.

You won't regret your visit, I promise.

Fernando

I LOVED Caceres (and Trujillo). It's a beautiful drive, arriving from the north but that time of year??? Still, the numerous plazas and monumental buildings are enchanting. And it's not so touristy.--C

Ok, log another vote for Salamanca! But I admit I'm biased. My husband is from there and we spend every summer there with family. We do travel around to get to know other towns and cities. My housemate years ago was from Plasencia - and that's a pretty town too. Check my website on salamanca: http://www.geocities.com/salachic

Excellent website SalaChic!
I love the link to the nearby towns.
Thanks,

I say Salamanca too.

Winston

I want to thank everyone who suggested Salamanca as a destination. My only regret was we could only spend 3 days there. It is one of the friendliest places I have been to on the face of the earth, and I have been wandering over the face of the earth for 55 years.

On our first night, a chef gave me a copy of his recipe for Sangria, after I remarked to the waiter that I could not find good Sangria in the United States. The next day, a local older man enjoying his lunch at the next table suggested in Spanish I drink a clear liqueur to help with my digestion. He must have identified my wife and I as American because he could hear our conversation as well as he could hear his with his companion. He and I carried on a conversation about Spanish food and how it is good for your health. While touring some of the historical sites, several Spanish-speaking college age students offered take a photograph of my wife and I with our camera. In a small town nearby Alba de Tormes, my wife and I were wandering around looking for the grave of Saint Theresa of Avila. I asked for directions from an old man. To my surprise he pulls out a key from his pocket and gave us a personalized tour of the basilica of Saint Theresa on Monday when it was closed. I told him that Saint Theresa of Avila was my mother’s favorite saint, and I have promised her I would visit her grave. He told me a son must always keep his promises to his mother. We had many other personal encounters all were very friendly.

None of the people above spoke any English, and my Spanish is limited, but they all took time out of their day to talk with my wife and me. It is this type of contact I enjoy, and I really enjoyed Salamanca.

SalaChic, Your website is fabulous! Your students must really love it and they must find it very useful!
BTW: Salamanca IS an amazing little city! Every time I have been there, it has been fun! The Plaza Mayor is my favorite. Years ago there was a small bar in the back of the Plaza where the owner/waiter used to do some sort of a trick to put the change ( then pesetas) into his apron pocket by slapping the tray( where the change was) and the money would fly into the air and into his pocket ...It was his Schtick...and we students LOVED it! just a little Salamanca memory

It's what you'd get if you crossed a university glee club with a small, all-male madrigal ensemble and a shtikky vaudeville act.

Tuna Players?

The wonderful site called Don Quijote has a short history of the Tuna Player Tradition:

In 1212, during the reign of Alfonso VIII, the first Studium Generale was founded in Palencia-an institution that would give rise to what we now know as universities. These "general studies" and their successors were attended by young people, including sopistas, the forerunners of the present-day tunos. The sopistas were poor students, who made the most of their musical talent, cheerfulness and japing to stroll through the towns, visiting streets, squares and convents and entertaining people in return for a bowl of soup and a few coins to help them pay for their studies. At night they played beneath balconies, serenading the women they had their eyes on. They were called sopistas not only because of the real soup their efforts were rewarded with, but also because it was often said of them that they lived de la sopa boba-a colloquial expression that is more or less equivalent to "sponging". They always had their wooden spoon and fork at the ready to dive in whenever the occasion arose, and this wooden cutlery has become a typical symbol of tuna groups.

Clearly, Booklady, I am never very far behind your always delightful and insightful posts!

gsobotta wrote:

"In a small town nearby Alba de Tormes, my wife and I were wandering around looking for the grave of Saint Theresa of Avila. I asked for directions from an old man. To my surprise he pulls out a key from his pocket and gave us a personalized tour of the basilica of Saint Theresa on Monday when it was closed. I told him that Saint Theresa of Avila was my mother’s favorite saint, and I have promised her I would visit her grave. He told me a son must always keep his promises to his mother. We had many other personal encounters all were very friendly."

In May 2202, I stopped in Alba de Tormes to visit the convent chapel where St. Teresa of Avila died, and had a similar if different experience to gsobotta. When I asked a short and stout woman who was chatting on the church steps with another woman, if I was in the right place, she took me firmly by the arm, and maneuvered me into the church, then took me to each area of significance inside the church, still holding me firmly by the arm. Then she left me on my own, and I spent about an hour taking in the atmosphere. When I turned around to leave, I found her sitting in the last row near the exit. When she saw me, she rose, waved me goodby, and walked out. It was a very touching moment.