Merida - Day 4- Roman Ruins - Casa Mitreo

What a wonderful 2d day we had in Merida!

First we got up early, had breakfast in our room, then an early start to the Roman Theater ruins.
It is spectacular!  Here are a few photos. The tiny guy is Joe who is over 6 ft tall!

This photo shows how thin the white marble veneer was.
At one time the entire structure would’ve been covered with white marble. 

Next we walked down to the bullring and crossed the street to see Casa Mitrea, an incredible, HUGE Roman villa ruin. The mosaic floors were wonderful and this house was obviously a mansion, complete with fountains, gardens, and running hot and cold water. This house would have been near the time of Christ so to think people in those times were bumpkins is waaaay off.

Merida - Day 3

Because the albergue in Torremejia is quite undesirable, we decided to bus to Merida today. And because my shins and feet are screaming, I’m so happy we did. The ticket was around €3,60. The trip took about one hour. 

We are staying in Hostal Abadias, where I stayed back in 2013. I really love this little place. It is clean and for only €32 per night for a twin double, quite affordable.  In addition, breakfast is delivered to your door for three euros each.

After we checked into our hotel and rested for about 30 minutes, we went to the museum which was free today since it is Sunday. And then we went and bought two tickets to all the other attractions, including the Roman theater, the Basilica de Santa Eulalia, the Roman bridge, the Alcazaba, and the Temple of Diana.  For one price of €7.50, we get to see everything. The price is a pensionista price so you must be over 65 years old.

I took a lot of the same photos that I posted in 2013, but here are some of my favorites. Sorry but these are not in order. I will fix them when I get home and have a laptop.

One of many stone boxes. 

Storks nesting on the Aquaduct

Wonderful tile mosaic floors 1st century 

Original Roman road

This guy could live in Beaverton, Oregon. I think he goes to my son’s gym!

Yes they ARE peni 

Olive press

First century glasswork was incredibly fine and beautiful

Glass bowl. Jesus’ time. 

Stork

Tomorrow after breakfast, we will head out and see as much as we can. We are here for three days because there’s a lot to see and I don’t want to have to rush.

I stuck to my budget today. Here is what I spent:

€3,60 bus ticket

  1,20 café con leche

  7,50 ticket

  5,00 donner kabob

________________

€17,30

It’s laundry day. And there is a BATHTUB!!!

And so my laundry and I took a long hot bath. 😊

And now, all there is to do is relax.

Oops!  Look how tiny these glass bottles are. 1st century. 

Villafranca de los Barros - Day 2

Today was our first real day of walking on the VDLP since we arrived in Zafra. When we left this morning the temperature was 36° but luckily there was no wind.  The track went over rolling hills and it was fairly flat, but boy, am I out of shape.

This street sign cracked me up. 

When I was a little girl, my grandfather was my primary caretaker and he was a farmer. I would ride next to him in the pick up truck, and as we would go down the hot summer roads there would be a mirage that look like water in the distance. He would tease me and say “Keep your eye on that water - we’re going to drive right through it!’

But then as we got closer to the water, it would disappear.

That’s just how I felt today coming into Villafranca. We would see it when we were at the top of One hill and it looked like it was only a kilometer away. Then we’d go down into a gully and back up to the top of another hill, and it didn’t look like we had gotten any closer.


 It took us about 5 hours to walk it.  The last two hours seemed like a week. My feet were screaming. But this is usually how I feel the first day.

We stopped at the church in Maimones. The priest was in his office. He stamped our credentials and let us in to see the church. It was very pretty.

Budgeting

We’ve decided we can easily do the VDLP on a food budget of 20 Euros per day. Here is what we have spent so far and here is a photo of just a portion of it. This includes items like a knife that I won’t have to buy again.

Just part of our loot

Breakfast Digestives turned out to be for children. Each one has a little picture on it. 

Bus to bus station. 22.04
Metro ticket.            3.00
Bus to Metro.           1.50
Coffee & pastry.       3.00
Dinner.                      9.00
_____________________
Total March 5.         38.54

Breakfast.  1.50. Included toast and coffee
Coffee.       1.20. 2d cup
Groceries  13.00. Dinner, brkfst, lunch tomorrow
Knife.          6.00. At ferreteria. Nice folding knife
Scarf.           2.00. Nice 6 footer. It’s cold!
TP 4 rolls.      .85
Tiger balm.  1.00 tiny tin
BabyWipes     .80
Flashlight.    1.00 tiny one
__________________
Total March 6.   27.35 includes food for March 7

The groceries included:

6 yogurts
Apple
Orange
2 bananas
Cured manchego cheese
Orange juice
Beer
Digestive cookies
16 laughing cow cheeses
3 cans tuna
3 cans roasted peppers
2 long baguettes (no preservatives)
Potato chips  (potatoes, oil, salt. No preservatives)
5 individual cachuela packets
Mr Corn
Garlic
Sliced chicken for sandwiches

I think that’s it?
Add that up at home and it’s at least triple the cost.

I learned a new word today: navaja = folding knife

I love Spain!

Zafra Day 1

Santiago Matamoros

Blogging from my phone is difficult so I will be posting several short blogs each day rather than one long one.

After a good night sleep I did a bit of hand wash then we took a walk to the market to buy food for tonight and tomorrow.

We stopped in to see the chapel at Esclavos de Madre Dolorosa where I took a few photos. One of the nuns was really pushing us to buy this little rubber coaster for 1.50 euros. We paid it simply because she let us in and she persisted. But I don’t want to carrry it so I will leave it for the albergue. 😂

Santiago Peregrino

Beautiful tiled facades

Very Sorrowful Mother!

In Madrid

Joe and I arrived in Madrid this morning around 7:30 AM. We had a great flight. Not too crowded. Not too many ‘sickies.’  

To catch a bus to Zafra you need to get yourself to Estación de Autobuses SUR.  I had forgotten and left my notes at home, and so we went to the bus station on Aveneda de Americas instead. Oops. . . and then had to take the Metro to SUR.

There is also a train that goes from the airport to Atocha and then to Zafra, but it was €44 each and we are on a budget.

We bought tickets for 22 euros on Avanza bus.  The bus leaves here at 11:30.  I believe there are a few other buses through the day.
There is a nice waiting area for Avanza bus patrons here by the way with free WIFI. 

We are weary and ready to sleep but still have a 5 hour bus trip. I think if I were to do this again I would spend one night here in Madrid and take the bus the next day to Zafra. Joe is saying we also should go first class next time from home. Ha ha Ha!  Yeah. In my dreams. 😂

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