Merida

 We found our Badajoz hotel with no problem and it’s a 4 star resort that is deserted.  We have the place all to ourselves, ate at the cafeteria that was like a greasy spoon and had breakfast for dinner.  John got to sit out in their courtyard and smoke one of his Cubans, Oscar and I ran 

around playing in their fountain and climbing stairs.  After a bath, where Oscar really tried my patience, it was time for bed in a truly beautiful room.  The next morning, we were up early by default.  We can’t seem to sleep late anymore and I usually wake up before Oscar which is 

 amazing.  It’s that beginning of summer phenomenon where I startle awake because it’s so light outside that I must be late for work or something, but then remember that the sun is now coming up at 5am….We drive into Badajoz because John found out from the concierge at 

 the hotel that there were some things worth seeing.  We drove around trying to find some parking anywhere near the Alcazar in town, but no going and I was getting irritated driving around this city looking for parking for a place I didn’t even want to see.  We got out 

 and walked around some, but I told John that I was not going to miss Merida for whatever we were currently looking at and after some bickering about who’s idea it was in the first place to even come downtown, we headed back out on the road.  We were in Merida pretty 

 quickly after that and heading toward the center of town and all the archeological sites.  What’s sad is in the research that I did on Spain and where I wanted to go when we rented a car, the most interesting and useful guidebook wasn’t a guidebook at all.  It’s was James 

 Michener’s Iberia.  He spent a lot of time in Spain and goes through it province by province, and when I had to make decisions about what we had time to see that had made an impression on me, it came down to his claims.  He claimed that it was the best preserved Roman 

 ruins outside of Rome and this is very true.  The coliseum and the Pantheon are still the highlights of any Roman ruins, but the theater and Merida was every bit as awesome.  And we got to walk around the ruins and touch them which you don’t get to do in Rome.  John liked walking on 

 the arena floor and looking up into the stands, I liked sitting on the seating that Roman senators sat on for the theater shows.  It was nice getting this up close and personal with the ruins and we went into the museum, which Oscar hated, drove to the circus and the old Roman bridge 

the old circus maximus for chariot races

and took turns jumping out to go see these things, since Oscar had finally fallen asleep when we got back to the car.  While I was walking back to the car after taking pictures of the bridge, some Spanish guy walking that looked like he had been working out in the car park told me I was

this Roman bridge

 pretty.  I’m pretty sure that’s what he said.  If it was something else, I don’t want to know the exact translation.  My Spanish is rusty, but I know the Tres Amigos and muy guapa is a good thing.  I got to hear it a lot in Spain, usually about Oscar being quapo, but this time, I was alone and I’ll take it where I can find it.  Back in the car and back on the road to Cordoba…