24 Oct 2012 – Salamanca

We left Madrid in heavy rain for the two hour drive to Salamanca.   On arrival the coach driver got lost and we drove around for another half an hour.  When we finally reached the Plaza Major it was crowded with wooden cabins for a major book fair, which completely spoiled the beauty of the square.   So our long awaited return to Salamanca was something of a disappointment

At least the rain stopped as we finally got off the coach.  However the delay had reduced the time available to explore the city to three hours.  The tourist information office provided a map and suggestions to explore the city on foot.   A cup of coffee put us in a better frame of mind to explore

Salamanca holds the archives for the Spanish Civil War, and we managed a visit to the museum where they hold them on our way to the river Douro to sit and admire the Roman bridge.

Then just enough time left for lunch and back to the coach.

On our way back to Madrid we stopped for a couple of hours at the walled city of Avila.    It was grey skies and light rain as we arrived, and we found the city to be pretty depressing.   By far the best feature is the city walls, and they are best seen from a distance.

We did try to explore the city, but could not find much of interest.   

 We had hoped to walk around the town walls, but only short sections were open to the public and were quite expensive to visit.