We had reached Cáceres, where the city wall still contains a medieval town with no outward signs of modernity. While wandering through streets and alleys with medieval palaces and churches, it is easy to imagine to have travelled back in time.
We had decided to visit the Casa-Museo Árabe, a historic house which is decorated like the house of a Moorish family. The owner of this house detected during some construction works the remains of an Arab dwelling erected on an ancient Roman site, which included a thermal and heating system. On his own initiative he turned it into a museum over the years, to show its visitors Cáceres’ Arab past.
The incredible medieval scenery of Cáceres is often used as filming location. One of the most famous movies filmed here was Game of Thrones.
We tried a local speciality at one of the restaurants at the Plaza Mayor. Torta de Casar is a cheese made from the milk of Merino and Entrefina sheep. It is named after Casar de Cáceres, its city of origin. The milk is curdled using a coagulant found in a wild thistle. This ingredient lends a subtle bitterness to the otherwise rich and slightly salty tasting cheese. It is aged for at least sixty days. The fully ripe cheese has a creamy consistency in the center, and is traditionally eaten by slicing off the top and scooping out the inside.
Outside of the old part, Cáceres is a lively School and University town, with a lot of commerce gathered here. For campers, the town offers a designated parking, which you can’t say about many towns.
Around the city, there are some more places we were interested in, like the Vostell Museum. More on our next post!