Back to Spain: Hotel Rector Salamanca

I propose now to write about the paradors I've liked but not reviewed before, as well as a hotel or two in that category. For the sake of convenience I shall arrange them roughly in a clockwise circle from Madrid, although this is not meant to be a strictly followed itinerary -- it would certainly be exhausting for all but the most indefatigable travellers.

The Salamanca parador, like the one in Segovia, is an uninspiring newbuild in an ugly, outlying part of the city. For my part I prefer staying at the Hotel Rector. It's somewhat pricier than the parador but not prohibitively so. For that the location can't be beat, it's right next to the main square. The Rector is a traditional late nineteenth century hotel palace, with huge public spaces and the traditional Spanish interior courtyard. The rooms vary in size from the adequate to the huge, the bathrooms are tastefully decked out in marble. There's free internet access. Salamanca is great fun to explore. The Plaza Mayor is perhaps the finest in Spain. A gift to the city from the Bourbon king Philip V as thanks for having supported him in the civil war that ousted the Habsburgs, it was designed by the master Spanish architects of the century, the Churriguera brothers. Marvelously proportioned arcades support three storeys on all four sides of the square, the effect being one of perfect harmony. And on rainy days, which for whatever reason have dogged me every time I've been in Salamanca, one is grateful for the shelter offered under the arcades. The main pedestrian thoroughfare that leads from the square to the university not only offers a wide variety of shops but has numerous examples of Spanish Plateresque, an art for that could be described as stick-on decoration. The best of these is the fifteenth century Casa de las Conchas. Just before the university one encounters the wonderfully harmonious Patio de las Escuelas, a perfectly proportioned tiny square with Plateresque on all four sides. The university, with a truly sumptuous fifteenth century carved gate, is among the oldest in the world, tracing its origins back to 1218. In the middle ages it rivaled Bologna as a center of canon law. Just beyond lies the unusual connected double cathedral. The "new" is sixteenth century with later additions, an interesting mix of late Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles; the "old" is a very fine example of twelfth century High Romanesque, with a lovely cloister.