Salamanca — Jim Winslett

We were docked in Portugal, but we could literally see Spain from the deck. We hopped on a bus and rode about 90 minutes into Spain to go to Salamanca. On the way, we stopped at a little mom & pop restaurant for a potty stop and some freshly-squozen orange juice.

Then if was off to Salamanca, Spain. Full disclosure: I am 100% done with traveling around with the “QuietVox headsets” and the voice of the tour guide in my ear. Being in the same part of the world for the whole cruise, the history doesn’t change much - every place you visit, you hear a different variation of the same history. The Romans, the Spanish Inquisition, the takeover of the Catholic Church, yada yada yada. I’m over it.

So when we got to Salamanca, we opted to stick with the group just long enough to see where the meet point would be, then we buggered off and went off on our own. That turned out to be a really good idea. We started on the high street to look at the shops before they all went on siesta (shops close from 2pm-5pm here)

From time to time, we’d cross paths with the group and every time that happened, we were super-happy that they were there and we were elsewhere. When we got to the cathedral, we bypassed the group (who were all stationary, listening to the guide drone on and on about something or another) and we went in and had a look around.

The architecture of the place was impressive, but I’ll admit that the iconography left me cold. It was way, way, waaaaaaay to much overkill. It was impossible to appreciate the workmanship of any carving or statue because there was so much of it.

Anyway, down the hill at the river, there was an ancient bridge built by the Romans.

…and if you walk out onto the bridge, which is MUCH longer than it looks at first glance…

…about halfway across, you can turn around and get a really nice view of the cathedral.

We stopped for lunch at a nice little sidewalk café and I got two things I thought would be safe: an empanada and a taco. An empanada, in my experience, is a small, self-contained fried meat pie with beef and/or pork. This was a slice of a much larger pie and it was fishy. Eww. The taco was better, but the tortilla was painted with quacamole and refried beans, two things I don't care for at all. Still, I managed. Champagne problems, I know.

After that, we hooked up with the group again and gathered at the old palace, which was converted to a casino, which was converted again into an event hall. They had tapas and some other goodies for us there.

Afterward, it was back on the bus for the 90 minute trip back to Portugal.

Back onboard the ship, it was the first day where it’s been warm and dry enough to really enjoy the outdoor spaces. We had a couple of martinis on deck and enjoyed the river scenery (we turned around today, so we’re revisiting scenery we saw on the way upstream - but this time, it’s with sunshine!

Dinner was interesting - they had grilled octopus for an appetizer and I’ll admit that I’m hot/cold on octopus in general. I’ve had good and I’ve had terrible. But until today, I’ve never had octopus so good that I’d rave about it. But honestly, the grilled octopus tonight was the best thing I’ve had to eat since we’ve been on this trip.

After dinner, we got to meet the captain. I know, you’ve already seen Captain Silva, the lady who got us through the locks. But apparently, she’s not the regular captain of the Viking Torgil - that honour goes to captain Fabio Nogueira, who came on board tonight and did a Q&A session with everyone. He seems like a nice guy.