Béjar should be on every Spanish traveler’s list.
If you’re in Spain for a weekend and have a tight budget, a visit to Béjar is the perfect idea! Once, during a visit, my friends and I decided to check out one of the nearby pueblos there. We had heard talk about Béjar pueblos and how beautiful and different they were compared to Salamanca. Upon arriving at the bus station in Salamanca, we realized that we had missed the bus to La Alberca, the most highly recommended pueblo. Luckily, we found out that there were some great hiking trails, and that they were only an hour from Salamanca.
After we boarded the bus (and only paid €5.40 for the fare!), we realized that we had no idea which of the stops would be Béjar, or how long it would take. Every time the bus made a stop in a little town, we would all frantically look around for any signage that could indicate where we were. Luckily, Béjar was big enough that there were a lot of signs for it on the highway and we arrived safe and sound.
We heard that there were several different options for hiking in Béjar so we stopped in the tourism office to find which was the best and easiest to access. While we tried to only speak in Spanish with the manager of the tourism office, we were quickly ousted as Americans. He switched to English.
As it turns out, we were very close to the start of the Peña de la Cruz trail. I don’t consider myself a huge outdoorsman, but in my rookie opinion, the hike was beautiful. There were lots of hills that were tough to climb but the views made all the sweat worth it. It was so great to be out in nature and enjoying the sun!
When we reached the top of the climb (and indeed there was a cruz at the top), we had a Spanish picnic. Each one of us had brought a packed lunch, and the tortilla and chorizo bocadillos tasted great after the hike. While Salamanca is a huge metropolis, it was wonderful to be in nature and appreciate its beauty. It’s true that there is a lot to see and do in the major cities in Spain, but a trip to one of the many pueblos surrounding those cities will not be time wasted!
