Day 6 – El Día de Tomás

We awoke Sunday to blue skies and a chilly wind. Being a Sunday, we decided to take breakfast on the Plaza Mayor. One of the menu items that jumped out was a typical Salamanca Breakfast. When in Salamanca, eat Salamanca.

No matter where one turns here there is a ham and almost every meal will integrate it somehow. Two over easy and of course, Iberico ham! Janet ordered a healthier breakfast option of avocado toast. The café con leche is as good as I remembered.

We decided to go to Mass earlier than the Cathedral’s primary Mass which is celebrated at noon. The Mass we attended was on a side altar, and with only 15 or 20 in attendance, it seemed almost personal. Although we could only understand words and not the message, it was very beautiful.

Outside of Salamanca there is a Dominican monastery that dates back to the 14th century. It is now an organic farm, winery, and upscale hotel named Hacienda Zorita.

Located on the river Tormes, the monastery is actually where Columbus waited for approval from the King and Queen.

On his second voyage he returned with sequoia trees that are still alive. They can be seen in the background of some of the pictures below and are the oldest in Spain.

The Hacienda is known for their farm to table foods served, and in this case, they come from their farm.

It is also the headquarters for a large wine business that has vineyards from Andalusia to Rioja to the Portuguese border. So now you understand why the blog is called – Tom’s Day.

Enjoying a two-and half-hour lunch while looking down at the fish below us in the river was quite relaxing. Janet surprised me once again as we fought over an anchovy tamponade. The first course was a stack of freshly grilled vegetables sitting on a grilled pumpkin chunk with an apple just to shake up your taste buds. We both had meat as our main course, and what I have come to realize with all good fresh meat - the chefs tend to cook them to a well done RAW and call it medium or medium rare. It was amazing though and you could cut it with a fork. The wine was a limited bottling of Ribera del Duero from 2011, which was a stellar year. However, the real star of the meal was a goat cheese cheesecake with honey and walnuts. Oh my!

Lunch was followed by a walk around the grounds until the English wine tasting would be given at 5 pm. Absolutely beautiful, and if you are looking for the ultimate escape for privacy you may want to consider this hacienda.

The wine tasting was given by the inn’s sommelier in the wine storage facility.

The setting was perfect and the tables were lit from below so you could really see the wine. As many of you know we love wine, and this was truly an educational event.

Oh yeah, the wines were good also. I forgot the tasting ended with a digestif of rum made by the hacienda in Nevis & St Kitts.

After a long day in the country we caught a taxi back to Salamanca. Walking the streets, we found ourselves in the Plaza Mayor – it was a happening place.

The book festival is wrapping up, so hopefully the tear down the trailers will start on Monday. Picking up a couple sandwiches (Iberico Ham of course) and fruit we headed back to the apartment for light dinner and called it a day. In fact, Tom’s day. Good food, Good Wine, and a Great Day in the country.