Merida

A view from the truck between Zafra and Merida

Merida

When we woke it was grey, cold and wet. The bad weather was following us around Spain, it felt a bit like Scotland all over again, and not at all what we expected at this time of year, in this part of the country. However, we girded our loins, dressed warmly in many layers, including goretex, and headed out to explore Merida. The Roman amphitheatre and theatre were very close by so we walked up there, bought a multi ticket which allowed us to enter all the Roman sites for a fixed fee, and proceeded to look around the amphitheatre first and then the theatre. Unfortunately much of the pleasure of looking at ancient and yet well preserved Roman structures was taken away by the torrential rain, mud and puddles which we had to endure for the entirety of our visit. It was that weather where the rain drips off your nose despite coat with hood up, and the glasses fog up repeatedly as does the camera lens. I stood in the shelter of an archway looking down at the stage and a couple of very intact statues, marvelling for quite a while, until the river at my feet got the better of me, and Hilary and Diana (who had joined me by then) and I decided that retreat was the better form of valour so we bought some bread from a lovely little shop which sold all sorts of lovely looking artisans’ products before sloshing our way back to the truck for lunch.

After lunch and a couple of hours of sitting in the truck watching the rain, we decided we would drive down to the supermarket for a few staples and spend some time at the McDonalds we had spotted down there, doing internet things and charging our equipment which was running low after two days use without recharging.

We found the supermarket easily enough, but as I have mentioned before, many of the chains have an 

annoying habit of putting up height restrictive barriers into their car-parks, I presume so people don’t camp there in their campervans, but it does make shopping for your groceries a bit hard. Anyway we managed to find a park quite close and headed over to do our chores. We spent a couple of hours reading, checking emails and recharging our gear before we thought it was time to head off and settle in for the night as it was so chilly.

Of course we didn't settle in, instead we got side-tracked and ended up down by the old Roman Bridge and decided to go for an invigorating walk across the bridge to the old town.

The old Roman Bridge

The new bridge from the old bridge

A statue of the she wolf and Romulus and Remus

After our walk we drove down beside the river looking for somewhere we could park up for the night. Though it would have been a nice place to stay down by the river, with plenty of parking, it would have taken braver women than us to stay there. There were quite a few ramshackle houses, with equally ramshackle people hanging around them, it didn't feel safe at all so we headed to the bright lights of a retail park and stayed there, undisturbed, in the rain in our snug truck for the night.

The next day it was a bit clearer so we headed into town to see some more of the Roman sites. Firstly we walked through part of town after finding a handy park near the main square, and just a short walk from the Alcazabar and a few other of the ruins.

Building in the main square

Stork nesting

Our first port of call was the Alcazabar, but despite it being opening time it wasn't so we stood waiting in a patch of sun for ten minutes or so to no avail, them decided to walk a few hundred metres down the road to the site of part of a dig which is situated in the foundations of a modern council building.

Hilary on pedestal being a statue

Next we headed back to the Alcazabar which was now open, and spent an hour or so reading the explanation/information panels and exploring in the fresh but sunny air.

The Roman bridge from the walls of the Alcazabar

Foundations of the barracks

The remains of the tower, with well under the lump in foreground

Inside the walls, 2000 soldiers were housed in barracks here when it was in use

A well accessed through the basement of the tower. The water was collected here from rainfall which was filtered as it passed through the sandy earth on top, which formed part of the grounds within the walls

Big fat olives ready for harvesting

From here we walked into town to see the Temple of Diana, and to browse the streets looking for souvenirs (none to be had)

Diana in front of the Temple of Diana

A pretty shop in the city centre

Some locals

Wedding outfit

Me and Hilary playing chess in the town square

After we had seen most of the spots in town we headed to see an old aqueduct which  crossed the river  further up river (but still near the city centre), then had lunch back at the truck. Mid afternoon (we are on Spanish time), after lunch we walked over to a church which had more ruins and tombs in the basement and a small but interesting museum. Unfortunately we couldn't access the church itself as it was locked up (?for seista time??? not sure), but we had a good poke around in the basement.

The remains of the aqueduct

Once we had seen our fill of Roman ruins we decided to head off towards Madrid, we drove for a couple of hours before getting to Getafe where there was supposed to be a campsite which despite googling and trying to follow their instructions we couldn't find, though periodically we found a helpful looking picture of a campervan on the roadside, only to lose the trail again. In the end, in the pitch dark we decided to stay at an industrial park, much to Diana's horror. However despite the police and security guards driving past frequently, I slept reasonably well, undisturbed, which is more than I can say for poor Diana.

A view on the road from Merida to Madrid

A random castle on the road to Madrid