Extremadura

After Mallorca, we wanted to spend a few more weeks in Spain, but weren’t sure where to plan our time. We bought the Lonely Planet guidebook for Spain as a tool to help us decide. We settled on a road trip through Extremadura as it promised beautiful small towns rich with food and history. It definitely delivered!

Jerez

Our first stop was actually in Andalucía – Jerez – where we flew directly from Palma. We spent a couple of nights there exploring the city, enjoying our fair share of cañas (small beers) and tapas (small plates) along the way. While Jerez is a relatively small town, there was plenty of life. The town squares came alive at night with people gathering for meals and we even ran into a big feminist rally – my kinda town!

Our main tourist activity there was a tour of a sherry bodega. Sherry is exclusively produced in the Jerez region and we enjoyed an excellent tour of the Lustau Bodega including plenty of tastings along the way.

Zafra

We picked up a rental car in Jerez and started our drive north, destination: Zafra. As Extremadura is known for their production of Jamón ibérico and serrano, we couldn’t help but stop at the Jamón Museum along the way and have a sampler of some fabulous ibérico jamón!

Zafra was an adorable town, filled with the infamous white houses of this area. Again, the squares were packed with people at night and we loved grabbing a snack and just people watching at night. We had to get used to the schedule in Spain, with everything closing down between 2-7 for siesta. It was actually difficult to find dinner before 8pm! We were surprised at how normal it was for families to be grabbing dinner at 9/10pm and little kids being out as late as midnight. A far departure from the 8pm bedtimes in the US.

Mérida

Our next stop was Merida, but we had to make a little pitstop on the way in the birthplace of famous conquistador Hernan Cortez. Because of Cortez’s success and subsequent fame, the name of his hometown was scattered all over South America. The name of his hometown? You guessed it – Medellin! The town was lovely and quiet. We enjoyed some lunch before exploring the streets in search of the Cortez monument. We found it in a massive square with a huge castle towering in the background. We hiked up to the castle where we were greeted with some beautiful views of the countryside.

We made our way to Mérida – a town well known in the area for its vast collection of uncovered Roman ruins. I found it absolutely fascinating! The ruins were all over the city, you couldn’t avoid them if you were wandering the streets.

On our first full day there, we started at the Roman Art Museum where they keep their largest collection of Roman artifacts. Along with statues, coins, pottery, jewelry, and hundreds of other things, they also had a collection of massive mosaics. Their size was impressive enough, but the detail they put into them blew my mind!

The following day we visited the ruins of the colosseum and theater. I definitely appreciated the Roman’s love of entertainment (even though the subject of entertainment was sometimes brutal). It was easy to imagine the excitement and noise that was once within these structures. And so cool that so much of it could be unearthed! Touring these was a major highlight for me.

Our last stop on our Mérida Roman ruins tour were the fabulously intact remains of a house owned by a wealthy Roman citizen. Paintings, bedrooms, mosaics, and courtyards were still clearly visible. A very cool look into what was some lucky Roman’s daily life!

Cáceres

The final stop on our Extremadura Tour was Cáceres. We found a nice hotel on the main square with easy access to the city’s main attraction – the Medieval old town. We spent our days in Cáceres wandering the cobbled streets of the old town, marvelling at it as any American would, and enjoying the nightlife.

Unexpected Trip Home

While in Mérida, I received the unfortunate news that my grandmother passed away. She was 96 and one of the sweetest ladies I’ve ever known! To attend the funeral, I booked a last minute ticket out of Madrid so I could spend a few days at home. While the travel experience back to Michigan was an absolute nightmare of canceled and delayed flights, I made it and I was glad to be able to be there and celebrate her. (I credit my inability to hold back tears in times of exhaustion/frustration for getting me home in time for the funeral).

Madrid was about 3 hours from Cáceres, so we made a little road trip out of it on our way to the city. We stopped at the Monfragüe National Park, known for its bird life, and enjoyed some beautiful views along the way. Spain really has some gorgeous countryside.

Alex stayed back in Cáceres while I made my journey home. I received plenty of food porn to envy while I was away. He also visited Trujillo, the birthplace of famous conquistador Francisco Pizarro.