The walled Old Town of Cáceres is a UNESCO World Heritage Site containing one of Europe’s best-preserved medieval ensembles, mixing Roman substructure (the 1st C. BCE colony of Norba Caesarina) with largely intact Islamic, Gothic & Renaissance architecture. On a Monday we found it largely deserted—even Plaza Mayor, the main square. A few tour groups did shuffle from ticket booth to ticket booth, but the homologous stone, populous pigeons & closed doors resisted our efforts to connect with this open-air museum, which seemed to lack residents to give it soul. In the late Gothic Santa Iglesia Concatedral de Santa María | Co-Cathedral of Santa María a spiral staircase (📷1) led to a small platform in the bell tower with views over the town (📷2); a number of other towers (including the 12th C. Moorish Torre de Bujaco) were in scaffold. We found the medieval streets & walls struggled to offer themselves as photographic subjects. An exception was at Palacio de Carvajal | Carvajal Palace, a 15th–16th century Renaissance-style palace, featuring a distinctive Gothic-style corner balcony beneath a pointed arch (📷3). We caught the bus back to camp feeling underwhelmed & questioning why this should be so. Camp itself is a highlight: we needed a break from travelling at pace, & what a delight to find an affordable pitch with en suite 🚽🚿facilities (📷4).
🇪🇸 #spain #extremadura 🇪🇺 #europe 🚀 #travel 🚐 #camperVan #nomad #roadTrip #vanLife 🌍 #unesco