Regio near Salamanca

With only a week left in Spain, our route is now heading north towards Bilbao with a few stop-overs on the way. We left the beautiful hills of Sierra de Guadarrama and drove to our next site: Regio, near Salamanca.

 

The Regio campsite sits beside a 4 star hotel by the same name. At this time of year, the reception of the campsite is closed and you have to let the hotel reception know of your arrival. It is quite a small site with 153 gravel / grass pitches but there is a large toilet block in comparison. In the corner of the site, there is a small playground and all the other sporting facilities (football pitch, tennis courts etc.) belong to the hotel. There is a small shop and bar / cafeteria on the campsite that sells fresh bread and a small selection of other goods. At this time of year, the cafeteria does not offer food but the hotel cafeteria does offer a selection of meals at a reduced rate for campers.

 

One of the main reasons for staying at the Regio campsite is to visit the beautiful university town of Salamanca. There is a regular bus that leaves from outside the campsite every hour. It takes about half an hour to get into the centre and costs 1 Euro 40 each way. We headed straight to the Plaza Mayor, a beautiful central square, that like many others around the country acts as the central hub of the town. This is where the Tourist Information office is to collect any information and maps. Before heading off to explore, you should spend some time in the Plaza Mayor; it always busy and we were lucky enough to witness a group of students playing music.

 

Salamanca is a university town, the third oldest in Europe and has wonderful architecture. When visiting it, it is worth wandering around and looking up at all the amazing buildings, including the Casa de conchas (shell house), Iglesia de Clerecia, the Cathedral and the famous entrance to the Old university. The challenge is to find a small frog amongst all the figures that adorn the entrance. It is apparently good luck if you find it and means you might marry within the year! Our girls both saw the frog but I hope there's no wedding bells in the next year! You'll find many other tourists all staring up attempting to look for the little amphibian (attached to one of the skulls). Street sellers outside the entrance sell postcards and frog keyrings to celebrate the achievement of finding it. 

 

We read that tapas are a local delicacy in Salamanca (something that they enter competitions for) and are cheaply available in some bars in Salamanca. We did see lots of tapas menus but on our day visit into Salamance we opted for a different local delicacy: empanadas - something we are growing very fond of!