InvictaMoto's Family Travels

After siesta we started to check on the packing. Claire replaced a pair of shoes in Mérida at Decathlon and so that is a straight swap. I am actually hoping that the cases go in the hold. It will save messing about with sponge bags and the liquids in see through plastic bags. I got TomTom from the car and set tomorrow's route to the car hire place with a petrol fill up as near as possible. The rental is full to full. The My Drive app seems to work really well and it can be set as the default from booking.com to save more faffing to set routes to the hotels. Dinner. Another restaurant in Plaza Mayor. Los Portales. Firstly a beer and tapa. Then the €12 menu. Tapa! The menu is three courses and includes a drink. Tonight we had the red wine. Another smooth one. From the restaurant it's walk off the dinner. Final packing and beddybies. Tomorrow the 300kms drive to the airport or at least to the car hire place. TomTom reckons three hours. posted from Bloggeroi

Another morning of pavement/cobble pounding after a decent breakfast in the hotel. I do like the coffee made with 50/50 strong coffee and warm milk. We had the map of the old town again and filled in most of the blanks from yesterday afternoon. Quite a walk again and my 6000 steps up before lunch. Pix again on Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/pauldevall/shares/2e11i6 No Convento Sta. Clara Lunch. Yes. Some pizza type slices from a hole-in-the wall bakery. Very nice. Whether it is just me, but prices seem much cheaper here. Plus when you order a beer or even a coffee there's a free tapa included. Once we had eaten we finished off the old town. Another UNESCO Heritage Site ticked off. I do wish I was on the bike though. Most of the PTW's here are if the scooter persuasion. Although occasionally a real bike appears. Just down from where we are parked in the hotel's garage there is a bike park. One of the Chinese Benelli's was there and looks okay

Palacio de los Golfines de Abajo After staying in both and on hindsight I might have opted to stay in Cáceres and made a day trip to Mérida. It's not that far on the A66. With Claire's hip problem we ended up driving and parking at or near the Roman sites in Mérida anyway. The Don Carlos is right in the centre of Cáceres and is about £50 a night for twin room with B&B. Has garage underground parking nearby at a cost. Cáceres is a much bigger town and the "centro historico" is very compact and a day pounding the cobbles should work.

After our walk and lunch Claire was feeling tired and so we returned to the hotel for siesta. At 5.30pm or so we set off to explore towards the old city. The hotel Don Carlos is right on the edge outside the old walls. Firstly into the Plaza Duran with a statue some might find menacing due to the outfit being taken by another group of people. Then through Plaza San Juan to Plaza Mayor. A stop in the tourist information centre for a larger scale map of the old town. We managed a small corner taking in Santa Maria and Sant Jorge squares. Tomorrow is a full day pounding the UNESCO World Heritage streets. Photos? See link to Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/pauldevall/shares/7a013H Tbe photos are all mixed up. Those taken on my phone are okay. The clock on my Samsung camera was six hours behind actual time. It looks as though I forgot to change it when we came back from Florida last October!! Once reset to CET from EST some are in the right place!!!

Once checked in to the Don Carlos hotel we wanted to head out before everywhere closes at 2pm. First stop at the car to get my sunglasses. Then a walk through the market stalls in the Plaza de España. Varied things from food to jewellery. And then lunch at the Méson de Jamón. The set menu is €9.50. Pretty good for three courses and a drink. Starter Once again I tried the 1/4 litre of local red wine (tinto). It was very smooth and easily quaffable. As the name suggests pig is prominent on the menu. Then a slow walk back to the hotel for siesta before a visit to the old town. So far only one pic taken. posted from Bloggeroid

Up and away about 9.30am. Cáceres is only about 40 miles away. The A66 route is pretty boring but it looks like ordinary roads have been replaced by the autovia everywhere. A stop for coffee on the way gave me my first Donut of the trip. As light and sugary as usual. Although very early My Drive and TomTom combined to take us to the hotel parking. We had the code already. The hotel is about 150m away in a pedestrian area. Checked in. Lunch? posted from Bloggeroid

Spoke too soon about last meal in Mérida. Claire ill in the night. Usually that's my job. Luckily I was able to add a night here tonight and cancel the Badajoz hotel. A visit to the pharmacy along the road to get some pills was easy enough with Google Translate's assistance. Was after lunch when we got out with Claire feeling better we set off for Badajoz. In hindsight we might not have needed to cancel the hotel. Better safe than sorry. Parked near Alcazaba and went in the tourist information centre. It started to drizzle as we walked the Alcazaba walls. From up here you can see across the rooftops to the river and down into the Plaza Alta. As we sat having a drink it started to rain hard and we sat it out. It didn't last long and we continued our walk and back to the car. Pano of Plaza Alta A stop for an in-car picnic before heading back to Mérida the longer prettier way. Evening in. Claire tired after illness and lack of sleep and fo

Post siesta. The last two sites. Firstly, the Circus. The site is massive.  It was built around AD20 and before the amphitheatre and theatre. My finger. Pano A huge flag flying outside. And then to the Casa del Mitreo. A Roman villa complex with mosaic floors and painted walls. Excavations continue around the site and they have another huge field next door to expand the site if need be. Underground 'habitacion" Walls painted with designs It's hard not to be wowed by the different sites. The sheer amount of work that they (slaves?) Put into everything...2000 years ago. We headed back to Roma and parked near the Lusitania bridge and had our last dinner in Mérida. This time a different restaurant. It was about 9.30pm when we left the square and headed to bed. Parking the Polo in the garage we were joined by some bikes. I was a little jealous!!! posted from Bloggeroid

For lunch we returned to the Plaza de España and decided from there to "do" the Temple of Diana and the Alcazaba. First up Diana Then the Alcazaba. Not much to look at inside but they are working still. Then back to the hotel as it was siesta time. posted from Bloggeroid