Say ‘cheese’; you’ve pulled!

Salamanca; 23^rd September 2009.

Salamanca is quickly growing on me as a good Vaughantown location, because there’s always somewhere different to walk on a ‘one to one’. Today, it was the turn of Beatriz to introduce me to the Plaza Mayor and the market.

The Plaza Mayor is a miniature of the one in Madrid, and I knew something about it from a podcast I’d listened to just before I left. According to the person being interviewed, the young folk of Salamanca used to take their paseo, or evening stroll in the plaza.

The boys would walk in a clockwise direction, and the girls anti-clockwise. If a boy saw a girl he was attracted to, he’d say ‘Queso!’ … or ‘cheese’. If the attraction was mutual, the girl would reply ‘Quesito! , or ‘little cheese’. Unfortunately, the podcast didn’t say what happened next … but I saw no evidence of this going on, anyway.

Just by the plaza is the mercado, or covered market. I’ve already told what a treat for the eye or the lens markets usually are, and this one was no exception. Especially as it’s situated in a lovely art-nouveau building.

Among the many items for sale was a local speciality, hornazo. This is a meat pie made with flour and yeast and stuffed with pork loin, chorizo sausage and hard-boiled eggs. But, I didn’t try any, for it doesn’t come in ‘individual’ sizes, and is by no means ‘street food’; you need to take it home, warm it up and find three or four friends to share it with.