Madrid 10 October 2022

 

The street in Madrid where I'm staying 

Waiting in the Caceres train station 

A last dinner together with my walking friends, Luis and Veronica from Mexico, Jerome from France, and Don from Canada 

It was a nice 3 hour train ride to Madrid, arriving at 11:45 am at the Atocha station and walking to and checking into my hostal. The lesser known of the big three art museums, the Thyssen-Bornemisza had free entry this afternoon so I took advantage of that. They had a special exhibit of their American art and the range of artists was impressive (their permanent collection is impressive, too). This evening the Prado had free entry so I also went there briefly to see my favorites, Bosch, Velasquez, Goya, snd El Greco.

Caceres 9 October 2022

On the way to Caceres

Plaza Mayor 

Old part of the city

I visited this museum that had a display of prints by Picasso, Miro, and Dalí

 

A fourteen mile walk brought me in Caceres shortly before noon. I can now say that I have completed the entire Via de la Plata from Sevilla to Astorga in three different stages. I checked into the pension that i had reserved, drained my Playpus drinking water pouch, folded up my trekking poles, and switched from being a walking pilgrim to being a walking tourist. 

Caceres is the biggest city in Extremedura and has a long and rich past from Roman towns and a well preserved old city to show it off.

Aldea de Cano 8 October 2022

 

Sunset in Aldea de Cano

My Cerdo Extremedura style. It is a lot like the Galician Zorza that I make from pork tenderloin with lots of paprika, olive oil, white wine and oregano.

Roman bridge-Puente de Santiago de Bencáliz 

An easy ten miles today to Aldea de Cano.

Alcuesar 7 October

 

Courtyard of the convent 

Donkey or mule cleaning up

The VP markers denote that we are on the original Roman road of the Via de la Plata 

Catching up to Don from Canada and Luis from Mexico who left the albergue earlier than I did

Twelve miles today of mostly gradual uphill with a net elevation gain of 750 feet. The walk was mostly through a parque natural, with lots of big boulders and oak trees on a gravelled track. We ended up in another sleepy little town, and this time in an albergue on the edge of town in a convent, Los Esclavos de Maria del Pobre (The Slaves of Mary for the Poor). It is a nice place, but no kitchen, so I guess I'll be eating my lentejas (lentils) and tortilla cold tonight. At least the showers were hot. Yesterday, they "forgot" to turn on the water heater, so we all had cold showers. Counting down now, two more walking days.

Aljucen 6 September

 

Aljucen's church 

I think this guy must be me

Our albergue for tonight 

Sunrise over Embalse de Prosperina

The paved path out of Merida

The first several kilometers out of Merida were along a paved path nicely separated from the highway. After a long ascent and short descent we were greeted by a pleasant lakeshore walk along the Embalse de Prosperina, which was originally dammed by the Romans. After leaving the lake, the rest of the total 10.5 miles was along pleasant gravel paths through oak woodlands until we arrived at Aljucen.

Merida 5 October 2022

Puente Romana

Looking toward Puente Lusitania 

Waiting for the albergue to open

Roman amphitheater 

Temple of Diana

Thank goodness for the shorter nine mile walk today as I wasn't completely recovered from yesterday's longer walk. Merida was an important Roman town. The bridge across the Rió Guadiana is supposed to be the longest remaining Roman bridge. After checking into the albergue and having midday meal, I played tourist and viewed the Roman theater, amphitheater, and temple of Diana. 

Torremejia 4 October

Machine harvesting grapes that are trellised but not irrigated.

They are hauled to the local cooperative winery in these wagons.

Gazpacho with tomato, cucumber, hard boiled egg, ham, and green onion.

The comedor is workingman's Spain. Definitely not tourist Spain

They were out of the tuna, so I had a very good grilled chicken breast. The 2/3 bottle of local red wine with agua gaseosa was a treat,too. All for ten euro.

And, of course, melón for dessert

It was grape harvesting day today as i walked through a wild rolling valley of mostly grapes with some olives and a little bit of wheat. It was a long walk at just over 17 miles, but the path was mostly straight on gravel roads and fisirly level so I made good time.

I lucked into a very good menú diario in Torremejia today. I'm still in a food coma.

Villafranco de los Barros 3 October

 

Artichoke hearts with ham and lots of garlic and olive oil

How old is this olive tree?

Harvesting grapes 

A relatively easy walk of twelve miles today. Since there were no openings in the albergues due to reduced capacity because of Covid, Luis from Mexico called around and made reservations for him and his wife, Don from Canada, and me at a truck stop hostal/restaurante on the N-630 national highway here in Villafranco de los Barros. Those three are going to take a bus to Merida tomorrow but I will continue to walk and get there two days from now.

Zafra 2 October 2022

 

I ordered bacalao again, this time with tomato sauce. It wasn't nearly as good as yesterday's.

Zafra castle 

Shepherd and his flock, chewing up the wheat stubble.

Interesting that they did not remove the grapevines before planting wheat here.

All of today's walk was on gravelled farm roads, except the small parts in the two smalll towns on the way and the starting and ending cities.