Merida

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Good evening!

We made it to Merida and it is INCREDIBLE; rife with Roman ruins and alive with eclectic art and archaeology.

For 12€ you can get an open-ended ticket to see different sites around the city: the Theatre and Amphitheatre, the Roman Circus, Santa Eulalia’s cript, and the old Alcazaba, to name but a few. There are also many monuments and museums that are free. One day is NOT enough to see it all, but thankfully we can come back and use our ticket at any point, so we’re thinking of coming back in spring for a weekend, hopefully when the cherry blossom explodes into bloom in the surrounding country-side; a sight I’ve wanted to see since a student waxed-lyrical about its beauty a few years ago.

We parked Rita-the-van by the side of Merida U. D. Football stadium, and started our tour with the Amphitheatre. It is incredibly well preserved and they have reconstructed one side of the seating area, so you can get a better idea of what it must have looked like originally, although it is still missing the top rows of seats (where the bricks and stones had been dug up and used as a quarry). The centre of the Amphitheatre has a ditch that was once thought to have been filled with water, in order for the Romans to re-enact sea battles (although this was later disproved), and small rooms still exist at the various entrances into the ring, where animals and gladiators supposedly waited their turn. There is a really good display of some of the different types of gladiators, and an explanation of their costumes, fighting techniques and opponents.

Right next to the Amphitheatre is the Theatre which is breathtaking, fully reconstructed, and since the 1930s (I think?), has been reclaimed as a theatre space again, where every summer they hold the Merida Festival de Teatro Clasico.

After satisfying our thirst for roman ruins, we picnicked next to the Roman bridge that arcs over the river Guadiana. 

Finally we visited the old Alcazaba, a perfect place, we decided, to hide out if attacked by zombies, and also home to an amazing aljibe, an underground pool that filtered water from the river through a series of rocks, for the residence of the Alcazaba.

We finished the day off in a teeny tiny village called Mirandilla, where we found THE ONLY bar with wifi. It was also full of men -ONLY men- and we came to the conclusion that I was literally the only girl in the entire pueblo. The men in the bar were all watching the Olympics (women fighting women... had to be!) and the barman (possibly to stop a riot), guided us to the 'salon' part of the bar... a large enclosed space far away from everyone else hahaha!

Have you ever been to Merida? What did you think of it?

N Xxx

Zafra

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Hola from Zafra!

Well, we drove back into Seville on Monday night in high spirits, and made a short rest-stop at Casa De Us, to pick up forgotten essentials, have a cold shower and a siesta before setting off again, this time north along the ‘Ruta de la Plata’ (Silver route) towards Zafra. We’re trying to travel as much at night as possible, as Rita, stately and elegant as she is, is somewhat antiquated, and doesn’t have any form of air conditioning... an essential attribute for 40˚ day-time driving.

We drove for about 120 km until we came to a lake, half way up the map to Zafra, on the edge of a village called Calera de Leon. We parked in a dusty field, set up camp, and were rewarded for our efforts the following morning when we woke up and saw this:

The only souls in site were a couple of guys that had pulled up in a Land Rover to go fishing, a herd of ginger cows, and their friendly aged herdsman, who greeted the two tousled sleepy forms that stumbled out of the van with a cheery ‘Buenas dias!’.

We seriously need to learn to pack up camp more quickly in the mornings, as by the time we made it to Zafra, the sun was already high in the sky and we were very quickly sizzled to a crisp, as we explored the city’s compact walled-in centre.

Whitewashed houses, and columned squares, after Sevilla, Zafra was a little disappointing. Picturesque in its own right, and with narrow winding streets, it unfortunately lacks something. Perhaps it is the commercial street that runs through the centre of it, chock-a-block with the typical high street shops found in any town.

It was also unfortunately tinted somewhat by the disastrous attempted siesta, where M, Güini and I were literally boiled in the tin can that is Rita.

On a positive note, the solomillo iberico we tried in the bar ‘Comeero’ behind the bull ring, was absolutely mouth watering, and there was a very interesting plaque in one of the squares that talked about a tour of the local vineyards... enough to tempt me back for another (cooler) visit in the future, methinks!

N Xxx

Santa Rita

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Greetings from Santa Rita, the smallest village in the entire WORLD! (maybe)

M and I left Seville at about 5am, after the first adventure of Rita's battery dying, and us being stranded approximately... well... 2 minutes from our front door. Insurance companies DO occasionally come in useful however, and one visit from a knight in shining armour and a portable battery later, and we were on our way.

We drove until we hit Ayamonte, the last town in Spain before Portugal, where we parked the van rather cheekily in the car park of a 5 star hotel, and grabbed a 3 hour nap.

The next morning we skipped over the boarder, and drove in silent joy over the whole freedom of the thing. We saw a sign to Santa Rita, and figured it would be rude to just drive past, so we stopped.

Santa Rita is lovely, even if it is about the size of a postage stamp, and the best thing about it is what lies behind it. Keep driving but a few metres, and you find a lovely pine forest nature reserve, complete with deer literally skipping about under your nose, and a breathtaking view of the beaches and sea below.

 We spend that night on one of those beaches, Manta Rota, a long, overcrowded stretch of golden sand, but conveniently public-toilet'ed and with dark shaded areas for couples to park up, demolish a bottle of wine and play drunken dominoes late into the night.

A truly wonderful start to our trip!

N Xxx

Summer Hols!

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Tonight M and I are going to start our first real adventure in Rita the Van. We're going to drive over to the south coast of Portugal and visit a couple of places we already know, and then (probably) go back over to Spain and follow 'El Camino de la Plata', up the south west edge of Spain, stopping and visiting whatever takes our fancy, until we get to Galicia, which is by all accounts lush, green and beautiful.

We're trying to keep this trip as open and loose as possible, so we'll keep you posted, and let you know how it goes!

N Xxx