Driving to Spain

Today we leave our first home-away-from-home, Sesimbra, to travel to Merida, Spain. Cliff and I had visited Merida over a dozen years ago and fell in love with it. Back then we had been following along the Rick Steve's Spain-Portugal recommended route but dared to venture off the path to visit Caceras and Merida...oh so daring! What was the attraction? Promise of Roman ruins dating to 1 BC!

But first we had to pack...we had gotten way too comfortable after almost a week. We hadn't bought anything new and yet the bags didn't seem to want to contain everything again. So we got a bit later start than anticipated and that explained why Cliff wouldn't stop at all the castles & ruins we passed on the way. Andra was practicing for her RV-days by clicking photos from the car windows of the castles on the hills. We also were on the Wine Route with many signs beckoning us to stop for a taste, no such luck. We had to settle for eating a picnic lunch at the base of an ancient aqueduct (c. 1450's, a youngster!) in Elvas, Portugal. Pretty cool.

We arrived in Merida in the afternoon and discovered we lost an hour to a time change. We walked around the old part of town, peering into the ancient ruins but waiting for the next day for a visit. We did see a bullring but have no plans to see a bull fight. We did have drinks in the classic town plaza while kids ran about and people lounged at all the little tables. I love this about Spain. Alexa was so glad to see kids for a change (they all seemed to be hiding in Sesimbra even after the school day) and bought a little ball to kick around the plaza like the other kids. We had a great time peering into the stores lining the pedestrian-only streets adjoing the plaza. Spain seems to have shoe stores like Portugal has pastry shops. Hmm, wonder if we'll get to do some shopping (you would not believe all the cute boots!).

All that travel (must have been at least 3 hours in the car), wore us out. We bought some food at the supermarket across from our hotel and had an early evening. We just couldn't muster ourselves to stay up until 10pm to go out for dinner!

Buenos noches.