Mérida and Olivenza, Spain
Alluring Alentejo: Day 6
Friday, 11 October 2024
It was a dark and stormy morning… and we’re loaded up for a two-hour trip to Mérida, Spain.
There are so many Roman ruins in Mérida that they don’t know what to do with them all. And if in doubt, just throw a stray first century column in the middle of a traffic circle!
Did I mention it’s raining… hard?
So many potentially great pictures I took from the bus as we drove around. Unfortunately, the autofocus focused on the window glass instead of the scene in the distance, such as the Roman bridge across the river. Bummer.
Our first stop included seeing this model of the Roman city.
No matter where one digs a new foundation for a building in the old part of Mérida, they run into the foundations of these original buildings. On the right is the first century Roman Amphitheater and Coliseum — each of which ended up preserved because medieval citizens needed them to serve as the location of the city dump! They got covered up and forgotten as a result.
These Roman ruins are the best preserved outside of those in Rome and I found this to be the highlight of the entire trip.
So many pictures…
As I mentioned above, there are ruins everywhere, and to satisfy archeologists and historians, they have come up with interesting ways to accommodate modern buildings. For example, the local museum is built above an ancient Roman road.
Another interesting thing they are doing here in Mérida is that new buildings are constructed over the ruins in such a way that archaeologists can still do research while residents live above. Here’s a newly-constructed apartment building. The pictures are taken through the street-level glass windows:
Note the elevated walkway residents use as they head to the stairs and elevator.
And one block away from the picture above…
More Roman ruins:
For a nerd like me, I found this incredible. And here’s how ancient ruins are incorporated into new buildings:
During the Ottoman Empire years, this Roman temple was converted into a huge mansion, which also served to preserve the original Roman foundation and columns when the mansion part was torn down years later.
The rear part of the mansion was preserved, however, as it too is part of the history of Mérida.
We walked past this bakery offering turtle-shaped bread!
After lunch, we were off to Olivenza, a town that was once a part of Portugal and has a tremendous amount of Portuguese culture.
And of course a medieval fort.
And sculptures…
And gorgeous whitewashed buildings just as you would find in Portugal…
And beautiful blue and white tile in the church…
The rope-shaped columns are a nod to Portugal’s seafaring history.
A short distance away is an historic government building with medieval sculpture around the door.
Note the astrolabe as mentioned in this post.
And here’s a metal astrolabe on a column:
And another:
It would be impossible to understate the references everywhere to the maritime culture of Portugal that we saw on this week-long trip.
In the photo below, you can see where the Roman bridge was destroyed by Napolean’s forces:
And here’s the first-century Roman aqueduct:
This was by far my favorite day of the trip so far. So much history!