History of the tuna
by Sonia69
Salamanca is a city full of interesting places to visit, museums, cathedrals, churches, convents, etc and different things to do. The most amazing thing I have ever seen is to see the tunos sing in the Plaza Mayor, the main point in the city, where people can have a drink while seeing the tunos play their music.
I had the opportunity to hear them singing their songs, in Spanish, obviously.
The tuna has its roots in the X century, when the poor students who wanted to go to University and did not have any money, had to sing in the streets, always to women. The tuna has different sashes with different colours depending on the faculty they study at: the yellow is for the medical faculty, the green for the vet faculty, the red for the law faculty and there are many more different sashes. Apart from this, the tunos always wear a band with different meanings because these bands can represent their wives, their friends or their families, even leader of the tunos I saw in Salamanca wore a band representing the Spanish flag, all depends on the tuno's personal ideas.
Most of the tunos study at University, while some of them are professors or even more, they do not have anything to do with the University. These tunos, who are neither students nor professors,have to pay a small amount of money to be members of the tuna.
The tunos of the medical faculty of Salamanca are the best tunos in Spain, in fact, they are very famous. I saw them in Salamanca and I must admit that I fell in love with them because they not only sang very well but they were also very nice. The thing I miss most when I am away from this Spanish city is the tunos of the medical faculty because they sing very well and always sing romantic songs.
Frog
by Carmela71
At the University facade there is a frog carved too. It has been very popular through the times by the students, and all tourists, trying to discovered it lol.
Students always though it was good luck for the exams...
The Nightlife is hot!
by fairy_dust about Near Plaza de las Augustinas & Plaza Monterrey
In that side of the Plaza Mayor, there are all sorts of nightclubs and places for all-night dancing. Many of those buildings are old stone buildings, but they look great! Some of the bars in this part of town include Camelot, Garamond, Amadeus, Gatsby, La Hacienda, Morgana, Trastevere, Cum Laude, la Chupiteria, etc.
When I went out, my buddies and I would usually start with a few shots at La Chupiteria (a shooter bar), then move on to the other places. At the bars in Salamanca, there is no cover charge, drinks are cheap, and the music is great! Usually, there would be Spanish pop music playing (David Bisbal, Marcos Llunas, David Civera, etc.), along with some J.Lo and other music that's well known everywhere.
Most of these places have young people in their late teens or early-mid 20s. The crowd at Cum Laude is a little older though (usually late 20s).
Girls, don't be surprised if guys try to pick you up. It happened to me a lot! For most of these places, anything goes. But most people wear stylish, trendy clothes. I usually wore either a little black dress, a short skirt and tank or halter top, or dark jeans and a trendy top. And I usually wore dressy high-heel sandals.
Casa de las Conchas
by benidormone
The Casa de las Conchas is one of the landmarks of Salamanca. Its a Gothic building with Plateresque elements. The construction started in 1493 and was completed in 1503. The shells and the lilies are the symbols of the two families who built this house. Now it is in use as a public library.
A show at the Palacio de Congresos
by fairy_dust
There are often shows going on at the Palacio de Congresos during the summer. I saw two - a Flamenco dance performance by a company called Azabache, and the opera Carmen by a Russian opera troupe.
There is also an outdoor area with a bar, where you can sit down for a drink after the show. One night, they had a Flamenco night, where they played Sevillana music. A few of us who were taking the Spanish dance class with the university extra-curricular activities program danced.
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Plaza Mayor
River Tormes
Salamanca - Spain
Salamanca (Spain)
