The Convento de San Esteban is one of Salamanca's great architectural set pieces, even though it sits just far enough from the Plaza Mayor route that hurried visitors sometimes miss it. The Dominican complex was rebuilt from the sixteenth century onward, and its facade has the carved density that makes Salamanca's Plateresque buildings so rewarding at close range.
Inside, the church opens into a theatrical Baroque altarpiece, while the cloisters and staircases slow the visit down in the best way. Come after the cathedrals and university if you want to see how Salamanca's religious and academic worlds overlapped, and give yourself time to look at the stonework rather than just ticking off another monument.