In 1570 Teresa of Ávila arrived in Salamanca to found one more of the reformed Carmelite convents that she had been setting up across Castile, and it turned out to be one of the hardest. She had trouble finding a house, and the one she finally rented was occupied by students, who refused to leave until she had literally waited on the doorstep. The story is told with relish in the convent, and it is typical of Teresa, who was as practical as she was mystical, a woman who wrote about visions and about leaky roofs in the same letters. The community still lives here, so respect the quiet.
Teresa spent her last years travelling and founding houses, and she died in 1582 in Alba de Tormes, a small town about twenty kilometres to the south-east along the river Tormes. Her tomb is there, in a church that draws pilgrims from all over the world, and the road to it is an easy, pleasant ride through flat farmland and holm oak, with a few villages and storks nesting on every tower. Combined with Salamanca, it makes a good half-day of religious and literary history, from Teresa to the poet and Augustinian friar Luis de León, who taught at the university and whose house of study stood not far from here.
The streets in this part of the city are tight and often cobbled, and a motorcycle is a good way to get around if you are patient with the one-way system. Parking can be a challenge in the old centre, so look for a space near the river or on the edge, and keep your helmet and jacket secure. The traffic gets heavy at lunchtime and early evening, when everyone seems to be coming home or going out at the same time. Mornings are quiet, with the light slanting through the lanes onto the golden sandstone.
Salamanca is a big city of more than a hundred and fifty thousand people, so fuel, workshops and shops are plentiful, and Santa Marta de Tormes on the east edge has more. The air smells of coffee, warm pastry and, in winter, charcoal from the braziers of street vendors selling roast chestnuts. The plateau around the city is high, about eight hundred metres, so nights can be cold even after a hot day. Pack a warm layer, because the Meseta does not forgive an optimist.