Caceres

CACERES

Last weekend Greg and I took a fabulous trip to the region of Spain called Extremadura. It's in the southwest part of the country on the border with Portugal. We visited five cities in three days.  Caceres was our first stop.  This region is filled with ancient ruins.  The area was settled by the Romans about 50 BC.  Prior to that time there was a varied history of early settlers, all the way back to prehistoric times.  Caceres, along with other cities on this tour, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The night we arrived the city was foggy, so my pictures look a bit eerie.    However, I knew right away that we were in a very special place.  The Plaza Mayor was spectacular.

Like the rest of Spain, Caceres was dressed up for Christmas.

This statue is interesting.  The robe being worn has a similarity to the KKK.  But it is a great symbol in Spain that they are very proud of.  As I understand it, it was worn by a chosen few at special religious times by those who had piety.

The next morning I was looking forward to getting out and seeing the old
city with my camera.  To my disappointment, it was still foggy.  But we set out anyway.

This city has very narrow streets that wind around in a maze.  The night before we got lost in them.

All the streets are stone paved.

This guy has very shiny toes from centuries of being rubbed.

We went inside to see the church.

Illuminated music manuscript.

Some of the other treasures.

An amazing Belen set up in their government building.

I could not capture it with my camera.  I could sure use some photography lessons.

I think this is the gnarrliest tree I've ever seen.

Another short slim person lives here.

We visited an interesting museum in Caceres.  It had many artifacts
 from prehistoric times through Roman times.  

These are interesting. If you can see the white sign above it, it will help you picture what they are.  The are the corner stands of a Roman bed.  Kind of an ancient hollywood frame.

I have pictured some of these around the country in other posts.  Most of them are reproductions, and the originals are sitting in museums.  Well, this is one of the museums where the originals sit.  They are much earlier than Roman.

Roman coins.

This is a Roman bath in the basement of the museum.

More of the ancient animals.

This was in their art section.

I like it!

Now this is narrow!

A peacock on the roof.

Santa gave me a quick wave.

We had dinner with Donald Duck.

We loved this beautiful city that was dripping in charm, personality and history.