Salamanca: A day of sun, fun and traveling back in time...

The students were quick to recover from the apple pie overload and 4th of July festivities as on Friday, we headed south (and about 80 miles east of the Portguese border) to Salamanca, home to Spain's oldest university and quite possibly one of the only places where you will find an astronaut on the facade of the cathedral. Please ask your students to explain, as that was not the only unique "addition" made to the facade during the cathedral's restoration in the 1990's.

Our visit included a stop at the new (and old) cathedral, the Plaza Mayor, the Casa de Conchas (rumored to have hidden treasure under one of the 300+ shells that decorate the building's exterior walls) and of course, the university. In between stops, the students found their way through the city as they tackled their ginkana, a sort of treasure hunt that allowed them many opportunities to converse with salamantinos as well as appreciate the rich architectural and cultural history of the city. Here are the teams that came in 1st, 2nd, and 3r place respectively.