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48h in Salamanca

Yesterday I came back from a small road trip to the Golden Stone city: Salamanca. London’s nonexistent summer combined to the homesickness that I recently started to feel made the fact that I had to go even more pleasing. The real reason behind such a treat was that Spain’s best printers (and tapas) are located here. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have left my creative cave where most of my book is slowly becoming a reality.

The plan was to meet my potentially final printing company on Monday and in an attempt to enjoy life I took Sunday out too. To be honest, I normally don’t take any days out, not even Sundays. Dealing with guilt has been one of the most challenging aspects of founding my own company. Walking under the sun, eating food that tastes like food and stimulating my eyes with new architecture has put me in an extremely cheerful mood. I am unsure if what I need from time to time is change or that I just love Spain more than I dare to admit. Spaniard’s effortless love can be felt everywhere; in a smile from an artist, a sudden joke from the waiter and the laughter of an unknown person who helped you find an astronaut in the façade of a cathedral – just to name a few. It’s a shame , I think to myself, that such a beautiful country in which I’ve been so happy made it so difficult for me to fulfill my professional dreams.

Salamanca, the city with Spain’s oldest university (the third in the world), has not one but two cathedrals. The first time I visited, aged 12 or 13, I was in awe of such majestic religious buildings, just as I was now. However, I didn’t know then that I would later be able to build similar things as an adult. What will I be able to do in the future that I can’t now? What will have changed next time I visit? All of a sudden, I start being very grateful for what I have now.

On Monday I had the meeting. After we designed all the remaining aspects of the materials and finishings, they showed me around the heavy machinery. I admit I wasn’t even paying attention to what they were saying but I kept nodding as we checked machine after machine. In my head, a month had passed and my book was the one being printed. When we arrived at the last one, my heart was already in the day I will hold my first printed guide and adrenaline was flowing fast through my veins. What a happy way to finish the trip.

Yes, I can see that in your pics that it is really a very beautiful city. Actually I have never been out of India yet but I would love to visit other countries someday.😀
Until then I watch them in your pics at home. 😄😃

So you have a bittersweet connection with your home country. It comes through in this lovely post. One can always have the country where professional dreams come to fruition and the other where the heart flowers like nowhere else 🙂 Stunning photos. Love your various looks. xx

A bittersweet connection that I hope to overcome some day. I like to explore the world, don’t get me wrong, but was expecting a bit more when I was looking at conditions to start up my business. Basically if I stayed, Architectour would not survive. The printer being in Spain is just a small act of being patriotic, a small but expensive act. However, I have mixed feelings as I just arrived to London and it’s cold and rainy haha. Thanks for your compliments 😊💛

You know I would take cold and miserable London in a heartbeat. But that is a lovely thought about taking the printing to the land which the heart loves for it is the thought that counts. My love to the rain-washed streets of London. Xx

Hi Virginia, thanks for the great blog, I look at it every time i get restless for culture while staying here in China. We share a lot in common as far as our creativites are concerned (definitely not the ability to sketch though :). I was wondering what your meant by “Spain’s best printers” in your blog. I leave for Spain in a few months (starting to be my second home) and I am just curious. Thanks again for sharing your travels with such lovely pictures and writings, they are much appreciated.

Welcome to my blog

Hi, I'm Virginia, a licensed architect based in London. My passion for traveling and documenting the world's architecture is reflected in my 40+ city guides, which you can access for free in this blog. They have received 1 million downloads and have been featured in multiple architecture websites across the world.

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