Extremadura | FindPenguins

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Trip start
May 13, 2024
Extremadura Traveler
Long day!
May 13, 2024 in Spain ⋅ 🌬 22 °C
Up at 4.30 to get a taxi to the airport, then fly to Madrid, taxi to the train station in time to have lunch. And train to Caceres, in theory !

But they are building a new High speed line between Madrid and Lisbon and so we had to get off in Plasencia and take a bus replacement. At least the buses were there waiting and comfortable and air conditioned, not like the ones they put on the northern line which are never there and leave you cold and waiting in the rain. Then a final taxi from the train station in Caceres to the hotel.

Although the new train is supposed to be from Madrid to Lisbon, it will only go as far as the border at Badajoz as the Portuguese decided they couldn't afford it so their section isn't being built. The cities along the route, like Badajoz, Caceres, Talavera, will all be very familiar to anyone who reads the Sharpe novels of Bernard Cornwell, as they describe the campaigns of Wellington's battles against the French that went along the Tagus valley towards Madrid.Read more
Now sit back in your hotel with a glass of wine and relax after all that travelling. Enjoy. [Eve]
5/14/24Reply
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Extremadura Traveler
Caceres
May 14, 2024 in Spain ⋅ 🌬 20 °C
Lovely hotel, slept well, and a gentle start to the day. Caseres has a really nice feel to it and the sights in the old town centre are in easy walking distance. Just as well as it was distinctly chilly this morning!
As it was cold, we started in the museum, which is small but has plenty worth seeing, from prehistory to roman and Muslim eras, including some Latin inscriptions dating from the 8th to 10th centuries B.C. - I didn't know Latin could go back that far in Spain!

Next a moorish period house dating to 14th century, and the cathedral with great views from the Bell tower looking out on the plains of Extremadura. The cathedral itself is quite plain for a Spanish church and very elegant. And finally to the small but lovely gardens of a Palace with a fig tree that is hundreds of year old.

Somewhere in there we had lunch in the main square. We had a small dinner inthe square last night and the food was OK, but expensive with small portions, which we put down to it being the main tourist centre, but lunch today, in a different restaurant, was half the price for a full three course menu of the day , and good food too!

Local bus drive for an hour this evening to arrive in Merida.Read more
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Extremadura Traveler
Caceres Museum pics
May 14, 2024 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 14 °C
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Extremadura Traveler
A taste of each era
May 15, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
Merida has been occupied since pre-Roman times and today we thought we would have a gentle introduction to the remains. We started out with a visit near the hotel to the Alcazaba which was a Fort built in the 9c ad by the Moors who ruled hereabouts at the time. However it was built on top of the Roman Fort at the end of the Roman Bridge crossing the river Guadiana. So we got two cultures in one place with the Moors reusing lots of Roman masonry. Oh and the Visigoths added to the defensive walls so a third! The highlights were walks along the walls with good views of the Roman Bridge and another Moorish cistern.

We then walked around some Roman remains they discovered when building new office blocks. They went ahead with the building just raising them on pillars so it was pretty difficult to make out anything significant.
After a coffee and snack we went to the Casa del Mitreo - a large 1c ad villa just outside the city walls which has lovely mosaics - mostly geometric- and great extant wall painting. It's only about waist high so no fabulous murals like Pompeii, but clear colours and designs. It must have been wonderful in its day.
After lunch in the bull ring cafe we walked back via a temple to Diana which some chap in the 15c incorporated into his palace.
When the sun is out it is lovely but there are plenty of clouds and then it gets chilly. Still an hour on the hotel roof terrace this afternoon was very pleasant.

Whereas Caceras was quite green and pleasant, and the old town well-looked after, Merida seemed mostly a modern but down-at-heel and threadbare city, so far not much to be pleased with, other than the incredible histor.y and our hotel which is in a beautiful old palace!Read more
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Extremadura Traveler
Spectacular sights!
May 16, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
The roman theater in Merida was listed in the "12 best sights of spain" (of which we have now been to ten !) And today we went first to the amphitheater, and then to the theater , which are next door to each other . They were founded by Agrippa in the 8 BC, and are both spectacular and really well preserved.Read more
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Extremadura Traveler
Roman villa and mosaics
May 16, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
Just outside the roman city walls was a huge 1st century AD villa with amazing mosaics. Again they were mostly geometric but so extensive.
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Extremadura Traveler
A day of museums
May 17, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
This morning we spent in the museum of Roman art. Its a very modern building and is huge, on four floors, and while it was being built they found a roman villa and cemetery underneath. The museum is very easy to get around but for a new museum the information on the exhibits is strangely lacking, often telling you very little, even to the dates.

On to a much smaller museum of visigoth merida. So small i don't know why they didn't just put it all in one room of the other museum.Read more
You sound disappointed with both. Such a shame. [Eve]
5/17/24Reply
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Extremadura Traveler
More museum
May 17, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
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Extremadura Traveler
Last day in Merida
May 18, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
Until today, the weather has been rather disappointing. A warm 20c to 24c but mostly cloudy with occasional flashes of sunshine. But today the sky was blue and the sun shone all day and we spent much of the afternoon on the roof terrace.
But not before our last bits of sightseeing. A 20 min walk takes you to another Roman Bridge ( over a tributary of the Guadiana) from which you can see the remains of an enormous aqueduct that brought water to the city from 10km away. Whilst not as wonderfully preserved as the one in Segovia, it is still a very impressive sight - and nearly every tower had a storks nest on top.
The last two sites on our list were a HUGE, over 400m long and over 100 m wide, circus used for chariot races, and the Basilica of Santa Eulalia - a martyr in Roman times and the patron saint of Merida. Dating from just 20 or 30 AD, the circus was Impressive from its size, certainly by far the biggest I've seen , it took me nearly an hour to walk around it. The basilica was small and unremarkable, with Roman remains in the under crypt, but with visigoth foundations dating to 5th c AD. They used a convenient roman temple as an portico.

Tomorrow afternoon we return to Madrid ready for our flight home on Monday.Read more
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Extremadura Traveler
Madrid
May 19, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
We left Merida at midday to get the train to Madrid. But as with the journey coming out, the first half was a replacement bus. It was perfectly comfortable and connected easily with the train. Then a short walk to our hotel. The timings were such that there wasn't a train that would arrive for today's flight so we had to stay tonight around the train station and then get a taxi to the airport in the morning. Annoying, but manageable!Read more
It seems transport arrangements are the same whichever country you’re in,!!! I love Madrid. I think it’s my favourite city. Eve [Eve]
5/21/24Reply
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Trip end
May 20, 2024