{"id":2083,"date":"2019-06-24T08:29:53","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T08:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=2083"},"modified":"2019-06-24T08:29:53","modified_gmt":"2019-06-24T08:29:53","slug":"10-plasencia-again-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=2083","title":{"rendered":"10. PLASENCIA AGAIN AGAIN"},"content":{"rendered":"

One day we decided to head West towards Portugal.\u00a0 There are three rural hotels in the same chain as Glenda’s favourite near Monfrag\u00fce.\u00a0 \u00a0These need checking out.\u00a0 On the way we stopped off at the remains of a Roman village, C\u00e1parra.\u00a0 This is a remarkably open and unprotected site which has been extensively excavated.<\/p>\n

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Apparently, the walled city covered an area of approximately 15-16 hectares although it is known that in the area northwest of the city there were many houses, so that the settled area is thought to have been much larger than the walled area.<\/p>\n

At the rear of the site a pathway ran right under the four way arch and out into the country.\u00a0 So, of course, we followed it.\u00a0 It was another of these via pecuarias (drovers routes) and after a mile or so it was apparent we were walking the Camino Trail again!\u00a0 You may remember that we hiked a section of the trail last year in northern Spain (Well, OK, we ambled a kilometre or so of the trail through Castrojeriz where we camped on the way out of Spain!).\u00a0 This appears to be a different branch of the trail – so we’ve done this bit too.\u00a0 Again, only for a mile or two!<\/p>\n

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I’ve just checked.\u00a0 We were on the Via de la Plata which is is the longest Camino de Santiago route (about 1000 km long).\u00a0 It crosses the whole of Spain from Andalucia in the South to Galicia in the North. This Camino route was traditionally taken by North African Christians on their way to Santiago. The Romans left their mark along the V\u00eda de la Plata which was also an important trading route.\u00a0 Indeed, some of the best preserved Roman sites in Europe such as those at C\u00e1parra are found along the route.\u00a0 I suspect the Roman’s had a taxation thing going on!<\/p>\n

Last year we were on the Camino Frances.\u00a0 OMG there are nine paths leading to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.\u00a0 \u00a0We’ve still got seven more to walk (on)!<\/p>\n

We found three more of the Hospideira chain and ate at one of them at Alc\u00e1ntara.\u00a0 Another convent re-purposed.<\/p>\n

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Afterwards – coffee on the terrace.\u00a0 A terrace with a view! …<\/p>\n

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At the entrance to the village we found the compulsory fountain …<\/p>\n

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The walk through the village after was enhanced by a chance encounter with a local who had probably been drinking in the bar since 9 am.\u00a0 He was determined to extol the touristic delights of his town.\u00a0 We had a ten minute conversation – him in Spanish us in English.\u00a0 It was not the most informative discussion either way, I suspect.\u00a0 And the smirks on the faces of other patrons of the bar would suggest that they had seen this behaviour many times before.<\/p>\n

Anyway, we eventually escaped just in time for the 5 o’clock tour of the Convent de San Benito.\u00a0 Six Spaniards and us.<\/p>\n

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The history of the place is complex.\u00a0 It appears that it was the headquarters of one of the main four religious\/military orders of the region.\u00a0 A bit like the Knights Templar.\u00a0 The remnants of these four sects are now still represented in the area in a peaceful mode.\u00a0 And this “convent” is home to their current activities.\u00a0 Their colours and insignia can be seen in the photo of models arranged around a flat screen TV showing the latest episode of Neighbours…<\/p>\n

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We may have to wait for a full and proper explanation of the real facts from Bruce-the-historian.\u00a0 Suffice it to say it was a peaceful haven in what was (apart from patrons of the cafe by the fountain) a totally peaceful town.\u00a0 Looking up the stone staircase made a good photo too..<\/p>\n

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… and not only that but the hour long escorted tour was free.\u00a0 Bargain!<\/p>\n

The rest of town was very interesting – but most impressive was the Roman bridge over the Tagus.<\/p>\n

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It consists of six symmetrical arches, 194 m long and 71 m high, built in honour of Roman Emperor Trajan in 103-106.\u00a0 The first arch on the left was destroyed by the Moors to stop an enemy army approaching the town – but the plan failed presumably because the enemy soldiers could swim!\u00a0 The bridge was subsequently repaired using stones from the original quarry.\u00a0 The second arch from the right was also destroyed and rebuilt – twice.\u00a0 This time it was the Spanish doing the destructive business.\u00a0 First to keep out the Portuguese and secondly the French.\u00a0 Probably with the same result!<\/p>\n

Anyway, Portugal was only about 20 kms further down the road.\u00a0 So, just for the hell of it, we drove there.\u00a0 Over the border – and immediately turned round and headed home, which by this time was about 80 kms distant!<\/p>\n

Glenda received cookery lessons from our Dutch camping neighbours.\u00a0 Harm and Klasiena are Dutch but live in Southern Spain.\u00a0 Harm’s hobby is cooking.\u00a0 Well, I’m expecting a risotto soon as well as a lemon spaghetti dish!<\/p>\n

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We had to visit Glenda’s favourite hotel, the Hospideria Monfrag\u00fce a couple more times before we left Plasencia.\u00a0 Just to be sure that their food was the best in the area.\u00a0 And I think it was confirmed.<\/p>\n

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Yes, confirmed!\u00a0 And coffee on their elevated deck after …<\/p>\n

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With a fabulous view …<\/p>\n

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The only problem was that when we emerged we found our car surrounded by the police!<\/p>\n

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Glenda wants to visit Guadalupe which would be a long day’s trip.\u00a0 \u00a0We’ve had such a good and varied time here but it’s time to move on – so Guadalupe here we come!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One day we decided to head West towards Portugal.\u00a0 There are three rural hotels in the same chain as Glenda’s favourite near Monfrag\u00fce.\u00a0 \u00a0These need checking out.\u00a0 On the way we stopped off at the remains of a Roman village,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spain-may-2019"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2083"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2113,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083\/revisions\/2113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}