Merida

Merida is all about the Romans. It was known as Augusta Emerita in Roman times. I arrived in time to visit te amphitheater and the theatre before lunch. I took lots of photos. It remains to be seen how many will load while I drink a G&T in the Parador bar!

Inscription referring to Augustus, which dates the building to 1st Century. Behind the stone is the Magistrates' Box.

Theatre- much restored. All the statues are copies: originals in the museum.

Original stones in place along with restored parts.

In the Museum. It was huge- needs 2 days to see it all! The best collection of Roman artefacts I ever saw. There are 3 floors, but I only saw the first!

Beautiful mosaics

Roman earrings, gold, garnets and pearls 

Zafra2

Zafra2

Last night it was time to change the clocks for "summer time", so we lost an hour. This means that sunrise is about 8.30 am and sunset about 8.45 pm. So, it will be easier to sightsee later in the evening. Amazingly, my iPhone knew the correct time!

I woke up to a miserable drizzly morning in my Palacio, but 3 sunny days are forecast. Last evening, I found it hard to get a meal before 8.30 and no menus in English. Not many tourists seem to pass this way. I finally went to Gaby's Restaurant in a central square opposite the Tourist Info Office and ordered Revuelto - scrambled egg w asparagus, prawns and ham. This region is famous for ham, so its ham with everything. Returning to my hotel, I discovered a lovely warm fire burning in the lounge: it was gas with very realistic flames.

Zafra

After breakfast, I left the lovely Hotel Becquer and walked the short distance to the bus station. I was carrying my backpack for the first time on this trip. In the hotel lobby I took advantage of some scales which said it weighed 8.4 kilos. I'd like to reduce that, but I don't know what to get rid of.

The bus to Zafra took 1 hour and 45 minutes and cost €6. It more or less followed the route of the Via de la Plata, and familiar Camino names flashed by. There were 2 stops at Monasterio and Fuentes de Cantos. The weather was sunny, but the cold wind whistling along the narrow streets of Zafra was something else!

My hotel, the Palacio Conde de la Corte is an old fashioned house with huge rooms, high ceilings and large radiators fighting to keep the place warm! I looked into the Parador for a drink at lunchtime. It is in the old Alcazar building. I was surprised to find that their Wifi wasn't working, so I didn't stay long.

Parador

Seville Alcazar

A cold, cold morning and no sun for my last day in Seville. I spent the morning visiting the Alcazar (though first thing I took a parcel weighing 2 kilos to send Poste Restante to Zamora). Seville is now busy with preparations for the Holy Week processions, with barricades up everywhere near the Cathedral. Trams have stopped running and the tramlines are being filled up with soil so that the bearers of the floats will not trip up. Think a Royal Wedding in London, with raised seating along the route. I will be gone from here, but might catch a procession in Caceres next week.

A pretty courtyard

The entrance courtyard

Carved wooden door

The Alcazar Gardens

Lunch spot; the Alabardero Cafe and Cooking School

Flamenco

For the last night of our tour with Fresco, we went for a dinner and flamenco show. I've never been to one before and this was pretty spectacular. There were 3 female dancers and 2 male, plus a number of male singers and guitar players. We were sitting right next to the small stage and it almost seemed that the dancers would step over the edge and land on our table! It was amazing how much noise they could make with their hands and feet, stamping and clapping, whilst the singers were seemingly crying in pain. 

Look at his face! No photos of the performance were allowed, but this poster shows the dancer we saw.

This was our table next to the stage. Our guide, Dora, is on the right.

Thursday morning, after a lovely breakfast in Hotel Becquer, I went to the bus station to book tickets for Zafra and Merida. Then it was time for a stroll in the sun (yes!) along the river to the Tower of Gold, a watchtower from which a big chain could be stretched to the other side, to prevent enemy ships from going upstream. There was a small maritime museum inside the tower, describing Magellan's circumnavigation of the earth, and the treasure ships which later made biannual trips to the Indies and back.

Triana Bridge

Bullring

Seville

We were all looking forward to seeing Seville, though feeling a bit exhausted after the whirlwind tour of Andalusia. We met our local guide, Lola, who took us on a walking tour of the old town, ending up at the Cathedral.

Walls of the Alcazar

We were taken for a stroll through the Jewish Quarter with its lovely houses and narrow winding streets. The Jews were originally protected and housed next to the Alcazar. Water came via a Roman aqueduct to pipes along the Alcazar wall, so it is known as Water Street:

Old Jewish house, later confiscated by Christians after the Jews were expelled from Spain. The Jews originally came to Spain from Judea in the First Century and called it Sefarad, which is why Spanish Jews were known as Sephardic Jews. Their Hebrew emblem, which we also noticed in Córdoba, is on walls and pavements in brass and means "never forget".

We also saw the elaborate building of the Royal Tobacco Factory, scene of Carmen, where all the tobacco from the New World was processed and made into cigars. It is now the university.

Next stop the Cathedral and the Giralda bell tower. The crowds were assembling -  hundreds of noisy schoolchildren milling around. The long climb up the Giralda (a slope that could be done on horseback) was slow - about 20 minutes - with out of control kids running up and down, making as much noise as possible!

View from the top!

Bells - very loud!

Inside the largest Gothic cathedral

Tomb of Christopher Columbus, but only 150 grams of him is inside!

Sherry

At Gonzalez Byass:
Notes from the Bodega:

Pedro Ximenex and Palomino Fino are the type of white grapes used. The wine is stored in American oak barrels, which are kept for 35 to 40 yrs then sold to Scotland for whiskey production. Barrels are painted black, so that any leaks will shine on black. Also, it's easy to make chalk marks on the barrels during production. The mixing process, new with old vintage, is v important. Temperatures in the cellars btw 16 and 23 degrees and high humidity.
In one of the cellars, many celebrities and royals have been invited to sign barrels - including Prince Philip and Margaret Thatcher.

After the tour, we tasted 2 sherries: Tio Pepe Fino (dry) and Croft Original (sweet).

Barrels of their most popular sherry

Pretty street inside the Bodega


Tasting

New phone cover in the shop

Leaving Hotel Casa Grande