With Llerena and Zafra we visited two towns with lovely historic centres, city gates and beautiful places. The whole area was in the hands of the Order of Santiago after the Reconquista. The Moors were driven away from the area of Llerena in 1243 by the Spanish-Portuguese general and Grand Master of the Order of …
Jerez de los Caballeros and Fregenal de la Sierra – two lovely small towns, disregarding their long names, which we soon might have difficulties to remember. But that’s what this blog is for! As we are at the border region to Portugal and Andalusia, you find strong city walls and castles in every town. The …
From our perfect spot at a lake, we were travelling through the south-east of the Extremadura, stopping at Olivenza and ending at the river Guadiana, where we found a beach with a chiringuito (bar/restaurant). Around the river Guadiana, the soil seems to be more fertile, and crops like sunflowers, corn and cereal gave the landscape …
We had read about a Dolmen north of Mérida , which we wanted to see. We visited some others before, in Andalusia and Portugal and were looking forward to this one too, as they are all different in their state of conservation. It is located in the middle of the Dehesa, where a small sign …
Mérida, once Emerita Augusta, was founded as a Roman colony in 25 BC under the order of the emperor Augustus. As one of the most important cities in Roman Hispania, it was endowed with all the comforts of a large Roman city and served as capital of the Roman province of Lusitania. The Muslims were re-using Roman walls …
South of Guadalupe, we found this Via Verde called Via Verde Vegas del Guadiana, which leads from the river Guadiana north through rice fields and the dehesa landscape – pastures with oak trees. It is a 57km long track between Villanueva del la Serena and Logrosán. This railway was not even completed before the project …
In the very East of the Extremadura lies the Royal Monastery of Santa María of Guadalupe, for centuries the most important cloister in Spain, inextricably linked with the Spanish campaigns of conquest in America. The Catholic kings Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragón received Christopher Columbus here in 1486 and 1489. He made …
Trujillo, the town of Pizarro, Orellana and many other conquistadors of South America, reflects the fortune these men made by conquering the realm of the Inkas and looting as much gold and silver as possible for themselves and the kingdom of Spain under Charles V. Today this little town with its Plaza Mayor surrounded by …
Malpartida de Cáceres lies just about 10km to the west of the city Cáceres and has 2 fascinating things to offer: the Vostell museum and the natural landscape of Los Barruecos. The museum was founded in 1976 in a former wool laundry (Lavadero de Lanas) from the 18th centuries, where sheep were sheared, the wool …
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 …
