Entonces, Salamanca...

[Wyatt Earp]

Just been invited to a meeting in Salamanca in July, which is not only justifiable in work terms but is also in Salamanca. Any tips while I'm there?

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

Entonces, Salamanca...

Don't say "Real Valladolid are my Spanish team".

[Bruno]

Entonces, Salamanca...

I think one normally doesn't tip in Spain, but it often depends on whom you ask, and may well vary by region.

[Wyatt Earp]

Entonces, Salamanca...

Insert witty username wrote:

Don't say "Real Valladolid are my Spanish team".

Valencia are my Spanish team, will they be reasonably OK with that?

[Wyatt Earp]

Entonces, Salamanca...

Sultan of Bruno wrote:

I think one normally doesn't tip in Spain, but it often depends on whom you ask, and may well vary by region.

Heh. It's generally a "round up to the nearest round number of euros" job, I think, as in France.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

Entonces, Salamanca...

Well, in restaurants you would be expected to tip, unless you're disatisfied with the service. The difference with other countries is that tipping is discretionary - there is no fixed percentage.

[ursus arctos]

Entonces, Salamanca...

Salamanca is gorgeous, though July will be hot, and there will likely be a lot of "summer school abroad" types around.

Given that you've presumably been invited by locals, you are almost certain to have a great time.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

Entonces, Salamanca...

Yup, like ursus says, the city is gorgeous. It's a bit like Oxford or Boston in that during school year it seems taken over by students.

Since you're going in the summer you may not have that problem but you'll have a worse one: tourists!!!! Those buggers are everywhere with their stupid cameras.

[ad hoc]

Entonces, Salamanca...

Possibly my favourite city in Spain. And up against some hefty competition.

[Jon]

Entonces, Salamanca...

Spot the frog's a good game to play in Salamanca. You stand outside a certain university building and squint for ever to try and find a frog that is supposedly on the the facade. I say supposedly because I've never seen it myself.

Can't rememeber much else about the city I'm afraid, apart from the fact that there's 'mucha juerga' as you'd expect from a university town. I think Michael Portillo's Dad was a professor at the university there before he came to Britain.

[erwin]

Entonces, Salamanca...

Wear black woollen gloves ... sure to break the ice.

[Wyatt Earp]

Entonces, Salamanca...

It's nice here. I've found the frog. And indeed the apostrophe.

[Sam]

Entonces, Salamanca...

Insert witty username wrote:

Well, in restaurants you would be expected to tip, unless you're disatisfied with the service.

So given that we're talking about Spain here, that's the same as saying 'there's no need to tip in restaurants.'

I've seen the frog, and if you'd like to, Jon, there's a photo of it on my Flickr page - I'll let you find it yourself.

I liked Salamanca a lot, good nightlife, decent food and it's very very cheap. The twin cathedrals are something else.

[Jon]

Entonces, Salamanca...

Thanks Sam - although I've studied the close-up photo that was on your flickr page and I still can't bastard see it.

Looking at your other photos of Salamanca, I'd forgotten how beautiful the Plaza Mayor was.

[Sam]

Entonces, Salamanca...

It is stunning isn't it Jon. Far nicer than the one in Madrid.

The frog is on top of the skull - in that photo, if you draw an imaginary cross from the corners of the picture, the point where the two 'lines' meet is where it is. It's now very, very weatherworn though - you're looking for something that might have looked like a frog when it was originally carved into the sandstone 400-odd years ago, rather than something that looks like a frog now.

[Gangster Octopus]

Entonces, Salamanca...

Salamanca is the only place that I've ever seen a stork's nest in real life. I thought that it was really exciting, as they're such an evocative and iconic symbol of middle Europe, and I'd always wanted to see one. Funny that Salamanca isn't actually in the middle of Europe...

[Wyatt Earp]

Entonces, Salamanca...

Wingco's daughter, playing with his mobile phone, rang me while I was eating tapas off the Plaza Santa Ana in Madrid.

Flight back was delayed, forcing me to get a taxi from Victoria. The taxi driver was Muzzy Izzet's uncle.

[Duncan Gardner]

Entonces, Salamanca...

Me gusta mucho. Never made Salamanca in trips to Spain, but it sounds good.

Any other cabbies related to footballers? I think Andy Reid's dad and brother in Dublin were mentioned?

[Wyatt Earp]

Entonces, Salamanca...

When I say I was eating tapas off the Plaza Santa Ana, I mean I was just off the Plaza Santa Ana, eating tapas, not that I was in the Plaza Santa Ana, eating tapas off it.

[Duncan Gardner]

Entonces, Salamanca...

Surely no-one here's that pedantic etc. etc.?

[Guest]

Entonces, Salamanca...

I was driven home by Julius Aghahowa's brother on Friday night.

[Jon]

Entonces, Salamanca...

Yes, there are lots of storks around Castilla. I think the ones from Poland migrate but, as far as I'm aware, the Spanish ones don't.

Edit - yes, I can finally see the frog! I can die a happy man now - thanks Sam.