Toro y Zamora

The second excursion we went on was to the cities of Toro and Zamora. I remember waking up late that day, and running all the way to the bus, which was a good half mile, (which I haven’t run competitively since the 7th grade) so when I got to the bus I was hurting and more than a little out of breath. And it turned out to be totally unnecessary because we didn’t leave for another 15 minutes or so. A rude way to start a day, I think. So we headed out for Toro, which is known for its wine, and accordingly we were going get a tour of one of the bodegas (wineries) in the region. We got to see a little of the vineyards and the whole process of making wine including all the big machinery necessary to make it. It was pretty interesting, and the tour was ended with a wine tasting, which I probably would have appreciated more if I liked wine even a little bit.

One of the things I have come to learn about myself being in Europe is that I don’t like wine. Everyone’s response to this, because everyone in Europe is gaga over wine, is that I just haven’t had good wine. But this seems hard to believe when I’ve had like 15 different kinds, even straight from a Spanish bodega. In my mind, “good wine” tastes like really good grape juice. So I want to like wine, but when it hurts to drink something that tastes bad, it just doesn’t seem worth it to me. I suppose if I found a wine that didn’t make my throat feel like it was being subjected to the wrath of paint thinner I would drink it occasionally. But until then, all you wine aficionados can just Shut Up!


Anyway, we got back on the bus and headed to Zamora which is a little town about 45 minutes away from Salamanca. One of our IES Directors, David, grew up there and his family still lives there, so he gave us a tour of the city. We went to a really old castle/fortress from the top of which you could see a lot of the city, we went to a famous cathedral there, and walked past a house where supposedly the Cid lived at one time.

The Cid is a very important character in Spanish history and literature. He was a real person who fought for Spain against the Moors, and his adventures and character are immortalized in “El Canto de Mio Cid” (The Song of the Cid) which is the first piece of dated literature written in Spanish that exists. So yeah…

We also saw the Roman bridge there and the river and huge stork nests and interesting graffiti and two complete halves of a cow being roasted over a spit.

Then we left to go eat lunch at the coolest restaurant I have ever been to in my life. It was in a really really small town about 30 minutes from Salamanca and was in an area of the town where there were a lot of bodegas (wine cellars). The restaurant in fact, was a huge converted wine cellar. So basically all one can see above the ground is a door, but you open the door and go down 4 flights of stairs and there you are! A restaurant underground!

So at the Bodega Los Yugos we ate typical food of the region, which is highly meat based. We had grilled Spanish sausage to start out, and then they brought us pancetta which is like bacon except much thicker and mostly fat, then a little salad, and then TONS OF RIBS! I ate so many, and they were so good. They didn’t have any sauce or anything on them, other than maybe a little salt and garlic added before grilling them, so they were way less messy than American style. And they just kept bringing them, plate after plate. It was crazy. Then afterwards, we had ice cream and chupitas, which are alcoholic drinks that are served in teeny tiny little cups and you just sip on them slowly and they taste really good. They had this kiwi stuff that was amazingly good and didn’t have much alcohol in it, and then another herb drink which I didn’t try. The walls of the restaurant were literally covered with old antiques, random pictures, knick knacks, and doo-hickies and the owner was crazy. He kept on going around from table to table putting huge amounts of ribs on people plates and flirting with the girls. He would go back in the kitchen and come out wearing a gross long black wig and sit by one of the girls and ask for a picture and a hug, just trying to creep them out, but obviously really enjoying it. I consolidated the rib bones from two tables and constructed a rib palace and a Plaza de Costillas, which resembled a Plaza de Toros where bull fights take place. I had a lot of fun!

And then we went home.