35,000 students in one place celebrating New Year's Eve! Concerts, bells, grapes and HAPPY NEW YEAR! We invite you to discover Salamanca that houses the oldest university in Spain and the Hispanic world and the 3rd oldest in Europe in its main event - the University New Year's Eve.
We're going to the New Year's Eve event at the University of Salamanca!!
A macro festival in the oldest university city in Spain. An incredible festival in a unique place. It will probably be your best ever New Year's Eve with more that 35,000 students it's a huge party you won't forget!
A macro festival in the oldest university city in Spain. An incredible festival in a unique place. It will probably be your best ever New Year's Eve with more that 35,000 students it's a huge party you won't forget!
New Year's Eve has been celebrated in Salamanca for over 90 years. In the main square (Plaza Mayor) thousands of students meet to celebrate the biggest and most anticipated New Year's Eve event. The reason that this event began is very simple: the University of Salamanca is home to thousands of students from Spain and from around the world (it's the univeristy that receives the most Erasmus students) and most of the students would leave to celebrate Christmas with their families meaning they would not be together for New Year so they decided to celebrate saying goodbye to their friends and seeing in the new year before they all went back home. From here the exact day of celebrations came about and it never changes, and is celebrated each year with more and more students, not only from the University of Salamanca but the whole of Spain. It is always celebrated on a Thursday - the best university party night - in the second week of December, two weeks before the real new year's eve.
Each year there are more and more students that come and it's quickly becoming an international event.
In fact, last year there were 35,000 students, crazy! Imagine the party atmosphere!
To have luck in the new year in Spain it is tradition to eat two grapes in the last twelve seconds of the year. But there is a different tradition in Salamanca, here you eat 12 fruit pastilles, one for each of the last seconds before midnight.
When we arrive in Salamanca you will have time to wander and eat before the party starts. The history of Salamanca has always been bound to the students, so it's no wonder that it's the oldest university in Spain. Even today the students are what characterize the city.
Also if you want to pass your exams, but the secret is in Salamanca! In the front of the university among many figures and statues there is a skull with a frog on top, and the legend goes that if you find the frog you will pass your exams! There are always lots of students in the entrance trying to find it. It's a tradition that you have to make the most of to make sure you pass. The frog has become a symbol of the city.
The old center is beautiful with its narrow cobbled streets from the Renaissance and Baroque era which are truly elegant. The style of the 16th and 17th century (Spanish golden age) is unmissable.
Another symbol of the city is the main square (Plaza Mayor). An immense baroque square that is brilliant in the day and magic and beautiful at night. This is where we will celebrate new year's eve.
