Caceres and Merida, Spain

We love the Motor ways. These beautiful, straight roads are fast and empty. The speed limit is 120 km per hour, but cars fly past us like we are standing still. At some points we have been going well over the speed limit, but it seems natural. We wonder about the lack of cars around us, but it might have something to do with the tolls.  We aren't sure how much it costs because we have a transponder in the car and will settle up with the rental company when we take it back. Hopefully, it won't be too big of a surprise.

Our proximity to Spain prompted us to set off for a day trip to two of the nearest towns, Caceres and Merida. We had forgotten about the time difference between the two countries so we didn't start out as early as we had anticipated. We headed north to Caceres first. Unfortunately, we did not have a Lonely Planet book on Spain and the town's high tech tourist information system didn't work for us because we left our IPhone at home. We wandered around the old town without any sense of the history. The best part of our visit was the lunch. We found a little bar and ordered "cerveza con limon" and tapas. The family sitting beside us was Australian. They had been traveling with two teenagers and a two year old since December. They had bought a car in France and had put 40,000 km on it. They had been from one end of Europe to the other and were in the last month of their journey. We congratulated them on their willingness to take a risk and live for the moment.

On to Merida...a must do for any Lovers of Roman history. For 12 Euros each, we purchased a pass that allowed us entry into a number of historical sites. We started at the "teatro"and "anfiteatro", both of which are incredibly well preserved. More importantly, all of the information signs were multilingual so we knew what we were seeing. All along the tunnel entrance to the anfiteatro, there were models of the different kinds of gladiators and facts about their weapons, clothing and opponents. The theatre is right next door and in the summer they use it for concerts and other performances. It looked like they were preparing for an evening event, but we were unable to stay to enjoy it. We also visited the Temple of Diana, the Alcazaba, the Roman bridge and the Cripta de Sta. Eulalia. It was all very well done and we highly recommend a visit to Merida. 

Two things to be aware of...Firstly, at 5:00 pm it was 40 degrees Celsius. Yes, it is hot.  Secondly, be aware of the parking meters....we did not see that the area was pay parking. When we returned to the car several hours later, we were greeted with an 80 Euro parking ticket. The attendant was patrolling the streets and when we asked him about it, we think he told us that it was only for Spanish residents.  Then again he didn't speak English so we can't say for sure.

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