What's the beef, Wellington?

 We really liked Salamanca. It was interesting, clean and appeared to be thriving. However, one can't visit Salamanca without seeing the Peninsula War battlefield just 7 km away.

Wellington's advance out of Portugal surprised the French and the Allies were able to capture Salamanca easily. Marmont, heading the French army, moved to stop the Allied advance, and to cut them off from Portugal. 

Wellington moved south from Salamanca as Marmont moved west, and they met at Arapiles. Outside that village, to the west rise two lumps, the Lesser and Greater Arapiles.

A crap photo, but it shows how significant the two features are.

The Lesser Arapile from the village of the same name. Just visible to the left is Wellington's vantage point during the battle.

Reggie plays 4wd to visit the Greater Arapile. The two heights are interesting geologically as they stick out from the plain like a mesa. The rocky tops are like natural fortresses.

Marmont sent his troops to and behind the Greater Arapile while the Allies took the Lesser. However, Wellington had a less obstructed view of French movements than Marmont of the Allied, so was able to react with more information. 

The video shows the view from the top of the Lesser Arapile. The Allied advance from Salamanca was hidden behind a ridge while the French were crossing open terrain.

The view from the French position is still magnificent and you wonder how the French command managed to lose control as they did.

The entire battlefield from Greater Arapile.

Two of the French divisions outstripped the advance of the rest of the French army, and Wellington could see this clearly from his vantage point. He took the opportunity and sent his right wing to jump these isolated units. In 40 minutes the French units were destroyed. Marmont may have been able to avoid this but at a crucial time was wounded.

Gratuitous shot of Reggie toward the killing ground of two French divisions. The Allied 3rd Division was able to advance covered by another ridge at rear right of shot. They attacked in combination with Allied cavalry and caught the French completely by surprise somewhere around the darker green patch at rear.

The day was still not lost for the French, as the Allies had failed to capture the Greater Arapile. However, helped by command confusion causes by Marmont's wounding and the death of his two successors in turn, the British prevailed in fighting on the plain between the hills and the village and the French were forced to withdraw.

The strategic implications were great. French invincibility was proven a myth. Joseph had to pull forces out from areas all over Spain, and then to abandon Madrid. We've seen that from Salamanca the French were forced into a continuous retreat all the way to France.

A memorial to the battle on the Greater Arapile. This view is to Arapile village, and Wellington's vantage point. After the defeat of the overextended French van, the bulk of the fighting was in the fields between this hill and the village.

Just a cairn for Lesser Arapile. The Greater is in the distance. Artillery was hauled to the top of both and a duel was fought throughout the day. Pack's division advanced across the ground between the two lumps. You can just make out Reggie on what must have been the form-up point.

I really liked this battlefield visit. The two Arapiles gave fantastic views over the battlefield and all the way to Salamanca. There is a museum in the village that gets good reviews but was closed when we visited. There are also several plaques in Spanish and English and they also have QR links to audioguides (though the voice acting was not great).

But there was more history to see here. Around the corner was the site of the oldest bull fighting ring recorded. 1st C AD!

There was no info on this site and it has clearly been renovated for current use.

The bull ring, with the Arapiles in the distance. I wonder if any French soldiers wondered about the stones he was sitting on? The French advance was from left of shot to the left of the Greater Arapile in centre rear.

The ring is clearly still in use though there is no information about that either.

We didn't do a big drive, but it was through mile after mile of olive groves. Lunch was in a town that appeared to be the ham centre of Spain: there were processing plants and shops all along the main street of Guijeras. Not much good to Judi.

Park-up is in Canaveral, though you'd be hard pressed to see any connection to the Cape. We had a good chat with an English couple, our first real talk with anyone since leaving the UK that was not over t'internet!

Salamanca

It's a short drive over the plain to Salamanca which gave us time to wander the city. The predominant stone gives it, like Zamora, a golden hue, and being situated on a hill adds to the visual impact as you approach it.

Gotta eat!

Plaza Majer, the main square. Probably not at its best in a thunderstorm.

It was MS day and these students were offering free make up and nails

Judi's student wasn't so good so she has to undo the work tomorrow 

We've been getting regular mid-day thunderstorms and the thunder can be quite impressive as it echos off the building. We haven't had the hail of two days ago but it sure has chucked it down at times. Then in-between, hot.

Jude tried haggling but the old woman just wouldn't move.

The mercado (market). Wrought iron and stained glass - what's not to like?

There are so many churches and historical buildings it was hard to know where to start. I complicated this further by reading the map wrong.

The rich had their Palacio and there were still a number of these that could be viewed.

The House of the Clams. Not sure why it's called that 🙄. Apparently they symbolise good fortune or something but at that point the battery in Jude's iPhone ran out so that was the end of the audioguide

Inside is this courtyard. The building now houses the city library, and this courtyard is cocooned within.

Being wealthy they could choose a view. That's the church attached to the Clerical University. Take a note of the bell towers. 

Iglesia de la Clericia. Church of the clerics which we couldn't see directly but got this peek when climbing the tower

Toward San Estaban / St Stephen's 

Toward the old and new Cathedral. (The tower at rear left.) Check out those clouds.

Down into the Universidad Pontifica.

Church and convent of San Esteban

New Cathedral - only 16C

Rear of the old Cathedral - 12C.

Don't worry - they're 'armless.

Next we looked around the Art Nouveau and Arr Deco museum, Casa Lis. Fantastic, but no photos allowed. (Jude found some online so check her blog.)

There was entertainment all day.

I was looking at the old buggers in the audience and realised that at some point in time I had become one of them. 😢

Palacio de la Salina

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza of course

Ceiling detail from the Torre de la Anaya

Whats left of the city walls

Roman bridge over the Tormes, now pedestrian and cyclist only. The bridge that is.

Easterly changing southerly

 We made some more progress on our internet. Turns out my 10Gb was limited to 5Gb if roaming. Didn't say that on the packet... Still cheaper than NZ, but I have had to change to another SIM. This time 50Gb for 25€ or approx $50 for 8 weeks. My NZ deal from One is 1.25Gb for $20 per month - what a rip-off.

Anyway, Jude has also changed and we are trying to end our SFR accounts which can only be done by registered letter in French. Arseholes.

Anyway... Our trip was through countryside that reminded us much of Central Otago. Its climate has been described as 9 months of winter and 3 months of hell. It was miles and miles of low rolling hills, with very few trees. Sadly there were signs of a massive fire that went on for 10s of kilometres, and we think it was from last year's heatwave.

We had a bit of a change in the scenery at this hydro dam. The roads in weren't on the satnav database so we were driving on green for some time.

We had a look around Zamora. When we got in it was hot enough that I changed into shorts. By the time we were ready to walk there was thunder and rain. Changed again and headed in to the town.

Acenas de Olivares. Reconstructed watermills used for various purposes since around the 10thC.

View from our park-up.

The old bridge had been pedestrianised but still in use after 9 centuries!

When we got into town it pissed down again. Being Monday most things were closed but we waited out worst of the rain eating some excellent ice cream. Then we had a look around the old town, me slipping in my jandals.

Look carefully on the campanile and you'll see a stork on its nest

These dudes process once a year. They look like KKK but are some religious order.

The cathedral with its unusually cuploa - quite oriental looking.

A rhomboidal citadel. Closed today.

Did you spot this was a mural?

More storks

Rather wet streets

Just for the sake of continuity, Zamora was captured from the French in Wellington's offensive in 1813, pushing them back eventually to Vitoria which we saw earlier.