ON THE ROAD: Goodbye Portugal, hello Spain!

We sadly said goodbye to Portugal this morning as we headed out to Spain. There was nothing dramatic as we got in the road; the signs jusr changed to Spanish and we lost an hour of time. We are now nine hours ahead of California time. We had our first comfort stop a couple of hours after leaving and about an hour and a half later, we were in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Mérida. It was in the 80s at that time, with highs climbing into the 90s. No humidity though.

We left the bus and walked over the Guardiana River taking the old Roman bridge, which is in excellent condition, especially considering that it was built two thousand years ago.  Mérida was conquered by the Moors after the Romans, then by the Portuguese so it has a colorful past. The Roman ruins here are among the best preserved in Europe.

We walked across the bridge and wandered up the pedestrian street, where Susana pointed out the ham store. She went in and came out with samples for us – delicious! We climbed up to our first monument.

The Temple of Diana was our first site, at the corner of a quiet side street and a longer road.  It was a Roman site constructed in the early first century AD  after the conquest of the area by Emperor Augustus. Roman Mérida, known as Emerita Augusta, became a thriving metropolis and and an important center of power in the region.  Within the city the Temple of Diana would have become a central part of the Roman forum, where the principal civic buildings of the city stood. Among the Roman ruins were also ruins of the Muslim rule of the land, since it was conquered in 713 by the Muslim army under the leadership of Musa bin Nusair,  an interesting juxtaposition showing the layers of history on one small piece of land. The museums actually re-used and expanded the ancient buildings, bringing us the concept of recycling!

We continued up until we came to a main thoroughfare.  There was a modern building which housed parts of Roman roads which was part of one of the many renovation projects of the area.  Susana mentioned that it is now common to put garages at street level, not underground, because as soon as the city digs, there will be found ruins, so the demolition of the streets must stop in order to preserve what is underneath.

We turned right into a street with many restaurants and Susana stopped, got a few menus and discussed the specialties of the region. At the end of this long street of food choices, we came to the two most beautifully famous monuments:  the 6,000 seat Roman theater and its adjoining amphitheater, where gladiators fought animals imported from Africa and Asia. It took us about a half hour to walk among the ruins.

We had lunch on our own at a charming local brasserie, where we had potato salad, gazpacho and a beer.  It was perfect!

After lunch we explored the National Museum of Roman Arts, which housed the antiquities from the discoveries found in the town.

We were back on the bus at about 3:30 and headed to our next stop: the beautiful Parador de Carmona, at the very top of the hill in the whitewashed old city. We had an hour or so to reorganize  ourselves before heading down to the dining room for a delicious dinner at 8:30. At the evening’s end Susana took some of the group on a “digestive walk” then we were in for the night.

I haven’t been able to  upload my photos for today, so this will be sent out without them. There’s some kind of glitch and I’ve been trying to figure it out.

Just returned from a wonderful day in Sevilla, which I hope to tell you about soon – with photos I hope.