Salamanca

Salamanca of the recent past:




Salamanca of the present:

La Puente Romana II

Salamanca of the extreme past and present: A 1st or 2nd century bridge. A 12th century cathedral. And 21st century commentary.

La Puente Romana I

A 1st or 2nd century bridge in the 21st century. Salamanca of the extreme past and present.








Next: La Puenta Romana II

Los Gatos Salamantinos del Rio Tormes

Along the River are a community of cats that live in the abandoned church, the abandoned mill next to the abandoned church, and the abandoned horse stable next to the mill. They are all either black and white, or black. I think they are all related.






Whenever this would would walk away from its spot, it would always come back. It was very territorial about this spot. As if I was going to sit there and never ever move from that spot ever.






Whenever I would try to pet that Territorial Cat, it would walk over to this other spot, where it would hang out there for a while until I got too close and it would go back to its original spot. We played this game of I-want-to-pet-you-no-fuck-off-arrogant-human-and-your-silly-feelings-of-entitlement-to-pet-us for a good 45 minutes.









Here is this solitary siamese cat with intense blue eyes, as if they were lasers, that I saw hanging out by the abandoned mill. The cat was quietly watching the river flow when it heard my foot steps to look at me.




I don't know what relationship it has with the other cats. Two rival gangs sharing the same turf? Estranged relatives? Distant cousins?




These two guys passed by and gave the cat a sandwich. The very relaxed cat became very excited and interested in the food.




The cat was uncomfortable with me watching it trying to eat its food, so I let it be.

La Iglesia Abandonada

Along el Rio Tormes, nearby the abandoned mill is this abandoned church with a forrest of dead yet lively trees.

Also, blogging it Bert Green Style.... city of the present and future:








Next: Los gatos Salamantinos del rio Tormes.

El Molino Abandonado

The river passes between those two buildings. I suppose that is where the actual mill is. If you look closely in the picture, you can see a cat by the wall. More on that cat, and other cats later.


Next: La iglesia abandonada.

Introducing Salamanca, el puente Romana y el rio Tormes

My (maternal) grandparents were from Salamanca. They left to Mexico before the Spanish Civil War and settled in Sonora, Mexico (where my Mother and all of her siblings are from). My grandparents died long before I was born, so I never got to meet them. They have been a great source of mystery my whole entire life. I spent the majority of my time in Spain here. I had some unresolved business to take care of.

Salamanca is a city located in the western part of Spain, sharing part of the border with Portugal. Here is a copy and paste of Wikipedia's paragraph on Salamanca's history:

The city was founded in the pre-Ancient Rome period by the Vacceos, a Celtic tribe, as one of a pair of forts to defend their territory near the Duero river. In the third century BC, Hannibal laid siege to the city. With the fall of the Carthaginians to the Romans, the city began to take more importance as a commercial hub. At this time it was called Helmantica or Salmantica.

Salamanca surrendered to the Moors in the year 712AD. The defensive city wall was strengthened, with the Mozarab population being relegated outside of it. It was, however, a time of constant fighting with the Astur-Leonese kingdoms, and the city was trapped on the line between Christian North and Muslim South, with the city becoming a no-man's land between the two sides. It was reconquered from the Moors in the twelfth century by Ramón de Borgoa, son-in-law of Alfonso VI of Castile.

One of the most important moments in Salamanca's history was the year 1218, when Alfonso IX created the University of Salamanca. Soon it became one of the most significant and prestigious academic centres in Europe.

In the Peninsular War of the Napoleonic campaigns, the Battle of Salamanca, fought July 22, 1812, was a serious setback for the French, and a mighty setback for Salamanca, whose western quarter was seriously damaged. The battle which raged that day is famous as a defining moment in military history; many thousands of men were slaughtered by cannon fire in the space of only a few short hours.


Salamanca has this bridge that was built by the Romans that crosses over El Rio Tormes.




But before there were Romans there were Visigoths that were obsessed with doing sculptures of wild bohrs. These original and super old sculptures are found scattered around the city.




When crossing the Roman bridge one often finds families hanging out, picnicking, and sometimes fishing (the river is hiding behind the tree leaves of this photo).










More about Salamanca and what is along El Rio Tormes soon to come.