To Merida

The old station at Zafra - a long way out of town ...

Left the lovely parador once more loaded down with 8kg of rucksack (and 2 litres of water).  Got to the station in good time for the train to take me back to Almendralejo but, horror and despair, the station cafe was closed and there wasn't another close enough to get back in time for the train.  So I set out with an empty stomach, which is not a good idea.  The nearest I got to breakfast was my first water stop, at about 10, when I picked a couple of bunches of withering grapes the vendangeuses had missed and had them with the two bits of chocolate the parador had left by my bed last night (I wonder why they don't do that in the albergues?).  Much better than nothing.

The road was actually on the remains of the Roman road (most if it's now under the N603), and it was absolutely dead straight for kilometre after kilometre, which got pretty monotonous after a while. 

To the North, always to the North

But the landscape got a bit more varied (and the road more wiggly) after an indifferent lunch in Torremijia.

Arriving in Merida was amazing.  A huge - half-mile long? - almost perfectly preserved Roman bridge led one across the river and into a bustling, beautiful town, stuffed with Roman remains.  In fact I'm taking tomorrow (mostly) off to see the aqueducts, the theatre and the amphitheatre.

The Roman bridge over the Rio Guadiana