Wednesday 26 th Sept

Delicious full buffet breakfast to chose from at the hotel. Drove into Merida and parked on the Car Park /Aire site (6€ per day, 12€ per night if you stay over, 15€ with electricity). Car park attendant (pleasant but spoke no English). Parking says libre outside but it isn't.   No shade for vans, but very convenient for the Roman ruins which are all within walking distance - one ticket covers all sites (15 € or €7.50 over 65) 5 minutes from the parking to walk to the ruins of the Roman chariot racing stadium where 7 lap races (representing the days of the week) were held, max of 12 chariots a race (months of year etc).

The race track

 Merida was a province under the dominium of Rome , and the ruler was Augustus Emeritus , racing Iberian horses, the fastest and sleekest. Awe inspiring. We walked to the Palastra and baths where young men used to wrestle and hang out and spotted some of the aquaduct ruins carrying water into the town.

The aquaduct

The gladiatorial arena

The amphitheatre - now kitted out for modern productions!

Next the Roman gladiator theatre ruins where gladiators fought animals and each other; we ducked down into the cavelike area where the gladiators waited to come out and then walked out from there into the wide open combat space , it was a terrifying feeling ! Next to it , was the Roman amphitheatre which seated 5500 with 2 storeys of columns framing a stage for cheering at the emperor's processions ( when he visited) . We walked past the public Forum and around the temple of Diana ( the huntress) all in the centre of town and walked half way across the longest most ancient Roman bridge in the world, witnessed the Alcazar fortress ruins, and then back into town for the huge Merida Museum ( extra 3€ each and totally worth it ) A fabulous huge building architecturally, with Roman house ruins in the crypt , artefacts and statues and amazingly enormous mozaics on the top two floors 

The museum

Floor mosaic

Caceres street

Being somewhat sight seen out , we had a 3 course lunch for €10 each, fans spraying cold mist , and drove 47 miles north to Caceres , a Moorish attractive Walled old town in a large city (UNESCO world heritage site) We parked up at Caceres Aire, again well situated for walking into the old quarter, but whilst the Aire itself was very pleasant, (entrance framed by trees and a grassy area ) there were only 12 spaces, and by the time we arrived at 3.30 pm every space had been filled apart from the one right next to a locked gate with overflowing large rubbish bins and it smelled strongly of urine as it was a space right next to the service area, where human waste is disposed of by campervans. Cramped spaces on one side of the Aire, very big spaces opposite side, more spaces just up above the Aire near the football area, but these are reserved for coaches, and we learned that if you use them you can get moved on by the Police or maybe not.   We parked up purely to enable us to walk into town, a 10min walk because we hadn't had enough sight seeing that day (of course), and spent from 4 pm-7.30 wondering around the city, touring the Iglesio de Santa Maria, climbing to the bell tower and deafening ourselves by waiting for the 6pm big bell chimes. We went to the Tourist office and chatted to the guy who spoke very good English about his experience of WOMAD in Carceres which has lost its edge, he thinks, in recent years, and then we got lost in the Jewish quarter.  Drove to the camp site 5k out of town to find to our delight that this camp site has elected to keep its 35m swimming pool OPEN because of the very hot weather. How about that ...! We also got our very own wet room toilet, wash basin, mirror with our own key, cold water tap and sink outside, electricity, shade table and chairs, ACSI card only 18 euros per night for the lot.  Went for a quick swim and a couple of drinks at the bar after a very full on day.