So I made it to Merida on Tuesday after a “lovely” bus ride from Sevilla. The bus was “only” 40 minutes late and once in Merida I found out THERE IS A TRAIN from Sevilla to Merida, but the reason no one takes it is that it takes a half hour longer than the bus. However, given the tardiness of the bus it would have been faster to take the train. Shesh.
Anyway, I checked in to my hotel that fronts the Plaza Major and then went for a walk around the town. I stopped in at the Roman museum, took in the nearby Temple of Diane and the remains of what is billed as a copy of Forum of Augustus in Rome, both of which date to the 1st century AD and then stopped for something to eat. I am doing an in depth tour of Merida on Thursday with my guide Marco so I will see a lot more on Thursday.
Today, however, I was off on an early morning train to Caceras (early by Spain standards at 7:53 a.m. – it was still dark and there was literally nothing open as I walked the 10 minutes to the train station).
Anyway, once I reached Caceras, I hopped into a taxi to the old town and Plaza Major (every town has one) and had some breakfast before Marco met me for my tour of his hometown. And while I sat there, I had fabulous views to the Plaza Major as well as the Torre del Bujaco, the most prominent (and famous) tower in Caceras.
Now old town Caceras is a UNESCO world heritage site known for its incredible medieval walls, narrow cobblestone streets, towers and palaces. The town, like so many in this region, was established by the Romans in 25 BC, and then seemingly abandoned. There is no evidence of any inhabitants after the Romans abandoned the area until the Moors took over the city in the 8th century. They were then conquered by the Almohads (a strict Islamic sect) before being conquered by the Christians in the 13th century.
Now the old town is divided into two sections those buildings inside the old city walls and those outside the old city walls. The majority of the historical sites are inside the old city walls so that is where Marco and I were going to be spending our time.
So after Marco and I had a coffee and talked about what I was going to see, we walked across Plaza Major and past the 850 year old Yerba Tower (made of compressed earth, adobe mud and straw) that was constructed by the Moors during their reign in the region before walking up a rising cobblestone road.
We then walked through the old Arco de Estrella (the “Star Arch”) all the while being “serenaded” by some guy trying to play the guitar, but all he kept playing was Frere Jacque … Marco said that he has been wanting to grab the guitar and break it … apparently the guy is always here and never plays much of anything else.
Anyway, about the arch. Apparently back in 1796, the Mayor of Caceres wanted the Arco de Estrella expanded to accommodate carriages which kept getting stuck on the hairpin turn that followed the road through to the arch. The mayor promised to pay for the expansion of the arch, but … as Marco noted, like so many politicians he never paid up and the mayor’s office in Caceres still owes the debt.
So after we passed through the arch, we climbed up some staircases that led to the top of the old walls and from here we took a walk along the top of the walls. We not only had spectacular views of the surrounding ancient buildings, but were able to see part of what they call the “ring road” a road which was constructed within the walls that completely circled the town and allowed for faster communication,. And that was critical during those times of upheaval and invasion.
Now the old walls were pretty spectacular. The base of the walls date to Roman times, but the Moors and the Almohads are credited with actually rebuilding and bolstering the walls with new construction, towers and fortified entrances like the Arco de Estrella. The walls were later further fortified by the Christians.
So after spending some time on the walls, we walked to the Torre del Bujaco. Now this tower was constructed in the 12th century by the Almohads and was built in a square with a significant number of repurposed Roman Stones. And the views over the Plaza Major were pretty incredible, but equally important was the fact that from the top of the tower you could literally see the entire area.
So after taking in the views, we moved on to the first of a number of old palaces. Now many of the noble families that one time owned these palatial homes have sold the residences because the upkeep is just too much. In addition, there is a whole procedure owners have to go through for any construction done on the buildings and changes are specifically prohibited. As a result, a lot of these former palaces are now owned by the government, have been converted into hotels or have part of the building used as a restaurant with the residence on the upper level.
Anyway, first up was the 15th century Toledo-Moctezuma Palace, which was formerly owned by the Juan de Toledo Moctezuma, who was a descendent of the former owner of the palace and had married the daughter of an Aztec emperor. The building was taken over by the mayor of Caceras in the 16th century when a second floor was added to the building.
Now the palace had a beautiful courtyard on the main floor but old Juan decided he was an artist and painted a number of quirky murals in an adjacent room, including murals of former Roman and Aztec emperors. And the Aztec emperors all looked exactly the same: long nose, straight black hair and a crown (apparently he was not aware that Aztecs wore feathers not crowns). Clearly the guy had never seen an Aztec emperor.
From here, we walked to the Santa Maria Cathedral of Caceras which was built between the 15th and 16th centuries on top of a church that was believed to have been built in the 13th century. Now this Cathedral was interesting because it was clearly gothic in design, but the new age renaissance style infiltrated the Cathedral in the 16th century with the the central nave and the aisle ceilings being constructed at the same height (as is typical in the new age renaissance style). The alter was hand carved in the 16th century and was made out of cedar, but was actually smaller than it appeared because wood paneled cloisters were added to the alter in the 1990s so church hierarchy could meet in isolation.
Now, for me, the most interesting part of the Cathedral were the old “decorative” (if you can call them that) flat tombstones that were all over the walking area of the church. Apparently if you were rich enough back in the 16th and 17th centuries you could be buried here, but an earthquake in Lisbon caused numerous churches to fall into the ocean changing the burial habits of the rich so that they no longer could be buried in the church.
Now across from the Cathedral was the Episcopal Palace aka Bishop’s Palace, a 15th century palace in which no bishop ever lived. The most interesting aspect of this building was the relief carvings on the exterior featuring the head of an Asian man (a nod to the Spanish protectorate of the Philippines) and an Aztec sun (a nod to Spanish control over Central America).
From here, we wandered around the corner to Palacio de Carvajal, which now houses the local tourist office. However, if you go into the office there is a small door on the right and inside is a private chapel with 16th century frescoes on the wall. Now the truly interesting aspect of the frescos were that they included naked ladies, which was HIGHLY unusual for this time period (although the renaissance period was considered advanced for its time).
In addition, the place had a tower that predated the palace and is believed to date to the period the Almohads took control of the city sometime between the last part of the 12th century and the early 13th century.
And from here we walked back past the Cathedral and around the opposite corner to The Tatiana Palacio Golfines De Abajo, a 14th century palace where Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand stayed. In fact, in a gesture of gratitude the King and Queen permitted the owners to place the royal emblem on the building which can still be seen inside of the entrance to the palace.
We then walked across the Plaza de San Jorge to the Church of St. Francis Xavier with its two imposing bell towers. The church had been built by the Jesuits in 1755, but to my surprise, the church has now been decommissioned. Apparently, church attendance in Spain is way down and the church could no longer afford to keep its doors open.
However, there is apparently enough money to keep the gorgeous adjacent garden operating. The garden was originally built by the Jesuits in 1755 and today, the garden offers a lovely bit of green respite from the cobblestones, brick and adobe building in the old quarter.
In addition, there were spectacular views over the garden walls to the nearby hillside and over the nearby houses below.
We then went to check out Palacio de Dona Mercedes. The woman who owned the residence, Dona Mercedes, was very wealthy and had received the palace as a gift from her father when she was in her 20s provide she got married. She did not marry at the time, but also did not give the palace back to her father.
However, Dona Mercedes eventually did marry when she was 50, but apparently never lived in the place. When she passed, the residence was gifted to her foundation and the palace now includes numerous works of art as well as some of Dona Mercedes important possessions, including incredible silver designs and a charm bracelet collection with charms from all of the countries she visited around the world.
Now the next stop was a bit of quirky stop. We were actually on the back side of the Church of San Mateo aka the St. Matthew’s Church. Now on the side of the building there was a marking to show the location of a cemetary for the poor who were buried between the 14th and 16th centuries. However, in reality, this was nothing more than a mass grave over which cobblestones were placed. A few years back the town had to install a new water pipe for the area and the dig revealed the mass grave with lots of bones dating back centuries. And as I said to Mateo, I guess when your poor and dead they just dispose of you any way they can. Yikes!
Now we eventually did visit the front side of the Church of San Mateo, but first up was the Church and convent of San Pablo aka St. Peter’s Church, a 15th century church which was part of a cloistered convent of Franciscan nuns. Now, Mateo told me the nuns are bakers and their pastry products are pretty popular. No idea if they use the same door system I saw in Madrid. I will have to ask Marco tomorrow.
And across the cobblestones and around the corner was the front of the Church of San Mateo. Apparently, the church is believed to have been used as a mosque back when the Moors and Almohads controlled the city. And inside the church is the burial site for a number of nobles from Caceras. On the outside of the church was a huge clock that dates to the 16th century, but the clock was actually originally located on the Torre del Bujaco.
Our next stop was right next door to the Church of San Mateo and was one of the more fascinating buildings on the tour, the Palacio de los Caceres-Ovando. Apparently, most of the Noble people in Caceres did not support King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella back in the 15th century. Queen Isabella, being a vindictive sort, ordered that all of the towers in Caceres be cut down in size (towers were a measure of wealth in Caceras) and all the balconies were removed or filled in. However, the Ovando family supported the monarchy and as a result, Queen Isabella allowed the family to keep their tower, which today is the only palace that has an original balcony and peaked tower.
The last palace we visited was the Palacio Golfines de Arriba, which now houses a Michelin star restaurant. However, the palace has an interesting history. First, a tower was built in 1507 after Queen Isabella’s death, but construction was stopped when the tower reached the height of gargoyles on a nearby building because a woman complained about the height (perhaps one of the first easement of view cases). The tower was only completed when the whole block belonged to the Golfines de Arriba family and today is the only other palace tower in the old town that is peaked.
Now the second interesting fact is that Franco took up residence in this palace for 38 days and made it his headquarters while he waited for the Nationalists to vote on a party leader. Obviously Franco won and the rest is history. So it is said that Franco’s revolution actually began at this palace in Caceres.
So at this point, we finished our tour of old town. We left the city through the Arco de Santa Ana, an arch dating to the 18th century that has an statute of Santa Ana on the top.
After passing through the arch, we walked down some cobblestones and back to the Plaza Major. Marco and I sat and had a glass of wine (as Spaniards are known to do at 1:30 in the afternoon) before Marco left me for the day. I ended up having a small bite to eat and then grabbed a cab to the train station for my 3:00 train back to Merida (only a half hour trip so not a big deal).
Tomorrow Marco and I hit up the Roman history of Merida and nearby Trujillo. Then Friday, I am off to Grenada.
