A visit to Mérida

We headed south an hour from Cáceres to Mérida.

 Mérida is a city and municipality of Spain, part of the Province of Badajoz, and capital of the autonomous community of Extremadura. Located in the western-central part of the Iberian Peninsula   The primitive settlement was founded by the Roman Empire as Augusta Emerita in the 1st century BCE to allocate discharged soldiers, eventually prospering as one of the largest cities of Hispania and the capital of the province of Lusitania. Its ecclesiastical metropolitan seat was taken away by the Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela in 1119. Conquered by the Kingdom of León in 1230, shortly before the latter's final integration into the Crown of Castile, it was handed over to the Order of Santiago. On numerous occasions over the course of the middle ages and the Modern Period, it suffered from the effects of warfare due to its location close to the border with Portugal.

The place name of Mérida derives from the Latin Emerita, with a meaning of retired or veteran. It is part of the name that the city received after its foundation by the emperor Augustus in 25 BC, Augusta Emerita, colony in which veteran soldiers or emeritus settled.

Mérida has been populated since prehistoric times, as demonstrated by a prestigious hoard of gold jewelry excavated from a girl's grave in 1870. Consisting of two penannular bracelets, an armlet, and a chain of six spiral wire rings, the hoard was carried away to the British Museum

It quickly became one of the most important cities in Roman Hispania. It was the capital of the Lusitania province and later, in the 4th century, served as the capital of the Diocese of Hispania.  Emerita Augusta was also a terminus of the Vía de la Plata (Silver Way), a key Roman route connecting the gold mines with the south of the Iberian Peninsula. Mérida preserves more major Roman monuments than any other city in Spain, including a triumphal arch and the Roman theatre. (All Blue text from Wikipedia.)

Hence our planned trip- to this quite lovely small city that has Roman ruins sprouting up in the center of city streets and on the outskirts of the center as well as along the river. We arrived without too much drama and checked into the centrally located Parador. Phil and Mary went for a walk and I edited some of the hundreds of photos of Cáceres. We had dinner nearby at a place called Sybarit which was very good with excellent service.

ON the way home from dinner we passed under Trajan's Arch

and through a park in front of the Parador.

The restaurant was cozy and friendly 

Mary had eggs with asparagus and a few shrimp

Phil had the leg of lamb

I had tempura battered cabracho with blackened garlic.

We met again after breakfast the next morning and stashed our luggage in the car. Then went off to see some of the sights.

then on to the Temple of Diana which is well preserved mostly because in the later era it had a large house built within the temple structure - the remains of both are on view-

Then on to a Forum area - also contained within the modern city- 

then we went on to the Teatro Romano and the Amfi-teatro and finally the fabulous museum of antiquities. Then time forced us to head back to Sevilla in time for dinner and Mary's early morning departure. 

The Museum was chock full of outstanding mosaics and statuary. The only better I have seen were the ones in the museum in Tunis at the Bardo.

We walked back through the city and picked up the car at the parador. 

We got home before seven and went to the wine bar around the corner before heading to Manolo Mayo for dinner. Mary had the arroz seco, Phil had the partridge arroz meloso and I had a mushroom dish that was very hearty and more than I wanted because we were all saving room for one last MITO run. We shared jamon and boquerones for starters. And had a nice Cava to celebrate our time together. 

And now- getting ready to host David & Kelly and their tow daughters (the girls are staying at a nearby hostal.) who will be here in two days! Never a dull moment...stay tuned!