Our first cultural day and first day off the bikes – always good after the first three days as the body adjusts to daily exercise. Our apartment is bijou but has everything we need and is only a few minutes walk from the main sites.  Mind you the centre of Merida is pretty compact so nowhere is very far. Merida has more Roman remains than any other city in Spain and so it seems apt to be starting with some of the earliest Spanish history (although the Roman city was built in 25BC on the site of an ancient settlement). The name is a corruption of Emerita Augusta and was the capital of Rome’s furthest west province of Lusitania. Originally an outpost for retired veterans, it soon became a major trade route from gold mines to the north and prospered to become the 10^th largest city in the Roman empire. The current city centre pretty much encompasses the footprint of the Roman city.  It is a living city with ordinary shops, and residential areas but dotted with Roman and Moorish ruins.

 

The Rio Guadiana encircles the western edge – crossed by a magnificent Roman bridge of 60 arches. The ‘modern’ renovation of the middle in the 15^th century are still pretty old. The river is bisected by a large central island – now a pleasant park and haven of peace on a sunny morning.

Our first stop of the morning though was the site of magnificent amphitheatre and theatre. As David aptly said, one for slaughter and one for art! The Teatro Romano is one of the best preserved anywhere and is still used for a theatrical festival in July and August. It would be magnificent to see something there. The whole site was very well laid out.  Later we visited the excellent museum which housed the original statues  from the theatre and the excavations around the city and numerous other artefacts. Magnificent mosaics were hung on the walls. The modern building itself was beautiful and the joy to walk round.

After all this culture it was time to linger over a cerveza and a suitably Spanish late lunch, which had in the small courtyard of a restaurant. The rest of the day was spent resting and planning and David thrashing me at scrabble – I blame the cerveza for addling my brain!