Saturday 24th October

After leaving Zafra we made a shortish journey north to Merida and found a rather expensive car park to park in. We were looking for the Roman Arena and Theatre but wandered off in the wrong direction and found the Roman Aqueduct!

On the other side of the road was the Roman Circus.

Eventually we found our bearings and arrived at the Roman Arena.

Next door is the Roman Theatre - even more impressive.

Apparently this is the best preserved Roman Theatre anywhere.

We moved on to visit the Museum of Roman Art nearby. It is a beautiful building.

There are many amazing exhibits like this bronze horse.

I liked this tiny bronze statue/utensil - not sure exactly what it was used for.

Most impressive of all were numerous mosaic floors which had somehow been lifted from their original locations and in effect "hung" on the walls of the museum!

Apart from the Roman remains Merida seems a bit of a tip. Our parking place was expensive and uninspiring so we moved on north east to the Sierra de Montanchez where we found a good wild camping place for the night with this great view from high up down to the plain below. This Sierra is the home of the black pigs which produce the very best Jamon Iberico in the whole of Spain. It is to ham what Roquefort is to cheese, Sant Emillion is to wine or Ketama is to cannabis! We travelled 69 miles (111 kilometres) today.