Amazing Salamanca !!

Salamanca is one of the oldest university towns in Europe. Salamanca is in Spain, midway between Madrid and Santander.
I was there in late July 2009 and was impressed by the many fine churches and cathedrals. But the Plazamayor was amazing: not for its grandeur, but its democracy as a space.

It was a Sunday afternoon when I arrived there with two friends Harry and Mike. The tables were out. Large numbers of people were there sitting having a drink or a snack doing their favourite thing: watching other people and talking amongst themselves. There was a buzz in the air. People were happy. Yet there were no centralising figure like a conductor of music, or a singer of songs or a politician giving a speech.
The sheer democracy of the arrangement of the square was something to behold. The buildings around the plaza were interesting, but seeing it full of people enjoying themselves talking and drinking forcibly reminded me no one person was in charge of these democratic conversational exchanges. It was a Self-Organising phenomenon, pure and simple.
It is a pity I lost my digital camera. A video clip would have conveyed the essence of the amazing atmosphere generated in this large yet enclosed space.