As Monday arrival day saw all of
the Govt run facilities closed we set out to see the Roman ruins of Merida.
Actually, we had taken care of Monday by dashing around climbing castles,
driving, eating and again visiting old things!
Breakfast was again awesome but
we really need to have sufficient nourishment for the day ahead! Legs are a bit
sore but that is to be expected. Suck it up people things to do, places to see!
We had a plan, as it was fairly
early and cool we will attack the Anfiteatro, the sports arena,( gladiators and
all that) and tackle the amazing Archeological Museum as the temperature rises.
The Romans really liked Spain I think, but when you have Legions of soldiers
and their requisite Government officials, servants and sundry hangers on you
have to build roads, villas, aqueducts, and places to entertain the masses.
Hence the huge arenas for exciting bloodletting, murder and mayhem and a lovely
theater for plays, political propaganda and pronouncements from the bosses.
Amazing, huge and awesome. Here too, the theater is currently used for plays.
These ruins may be old but they are still being used after a bit of
restoration.
There was a fair bit of walking about, climbing high and wondering
how in the hell they did it all. We are very blasé about building but the Roman
engineers and builders were incredible They did not have the machinery we have
and yet these structures remain 2,000 year later. I wonder how many of our
buildings will last that long. Now I am not saying they are pristine, after the
fall of the Roman Empire and the exit of Rome from the continent, there were
Visigoths and Arabs who came after and as was the custom they all tried to
obliterate what came before in order to put their own stamp on the land they
had just conquered.
All this history and culture is
coming at us fast and furious and we have yet to tackle the Museum! But first a
nice sit down on a train around the city to view more wonderfulness! The
narration was only in Spanish and that a bit garbled as she held the microphone
too close to her mouth, however we muddled through translating as best we
could. Bridges (Romans build lovely bridges), aqueducts, modern buildings up on
pillars to protect the ruins below etc. It didn’t take that long as it was not
through the town but around the outside. Back we went and had more food! Next
the museum!
The museum is custom built and
very impressive. They are still finding artifacts and restoring and displaying.
They have mosaic floors taken from ruined villas on the walls! They are quite
beautiful and where pieces of tile are missing, restorers have painted in,
after great research, what is missing. There were busts, headless statues,
tools, cups, plates and weapons and in the Crypt, villas have been transported
and stored along with many other artifacts. I am exhausted just writing this.
We have to stop and rest before we continue.
Ian, Cathie and Zoey went
walkabout to explore the first Arab Alcazaba in town. (Not sure what the
Visigoths contributed, no record of that.) We met up in the Plaza Mayor at 8pm
after Paul and Jane recharged the batteries with a snooze. We did a bit of people
watching and drank a beer or two and walked back to the Parador for bar snacks
(club sandwiches)
We crashed for the night, again!
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