Five Day Trips from Cáceres

I'm off in Wisconsin land, but don't worry, I've set up some awesome guest bloggers to cover for me while I'm eating cheese curds and playing in the snow. Up first is Will Peach, from My Spanish Adventure. 

5 Day-Trips from Caceres, Extremadura

Will Peach is one of the site editors over at Gap Daemon, the gap year travel website for backpackers and young travellers. You can also catch him writing about his latest adventures on his other blog My Spanish Adventure and on Twitter.

It’s a funny old place is Extremadura. Pretty much unbeknownst to the rest of Spain (and the world for that matter), it’s odd to think of the sheer number of travellers who pass over its charms on the road to Andalucia or Portugal every year.

Base yourself in the beautiful UNESCO city of Caceres however and you needn’t wander too far before you find yourself falling in love with this spectacular region.

My five favourite day-trips? A mix of stunning natural landscapes, cities teeming with history and, dare I say it, houses with pianos masquerading as Buicks. Read on.

Mérida

Only a half hour’s train ride away and at just 10 Euro a return ticket, the Roman ruin filled city of Mérida is a fabulous spot to while away a few hours over the summer. Head at the weekend and you can enter Mérida’s famous National Museum of Modern Art for free too.

It’s outdoors however that you’ll want to spend most of your time. With sites like the towering Aqueduct of Miracles, the Roman bridge and the amazingly opulent (and well-preserved) Roman Theatre, you can walk to all of the main attractions in a few short hours and still have plenty of time to hit the terraces afterward.

My recommendation? Stop for a glass of vino tinto on the terraces closeby to the Alcazaba and enjoy the sweeping views over the River Guadiana.

Trujillo

Birthplace of the Pizarro brothers, conquerors of Peru, Trujillo’s links with the glories of Spain’s past aren’t the only thing going for this small Extremaduran city. Brimming with a wide variety of monuments including the 12^th century Church of Santiago - standing snug within Trujillo’s walled old town - an alcazaba and a Plaza Mayor, Trujillo’s treasures are plentiful.

Make a trip on May 1^st when the National Cheese Festival takes place and walk around the hundreds of stalls on the Plaza Mayor. You thought Spain was just about the ham?

Zafra

A little further than both Mérida and Trujillo lies the medieval town of Zafra, often referred to by the Spanish as “little Seville”. No doubt its past, as a former strategic outpost on the border between Seville and Badajoz, helped earn it this title, yet Zafra is also worth a visit in its own right.

Jolly around Zafra’s alluring downtown and stroll around the Plaza de Torro in the shadow of its royal castle, once home to the duke of Spain, but now converted into an elegant hotel property open to summer visitors for a swim.

My tip? Enjoy typical Extremaduran cuisine at Josefina’s, one of the best restaurants in the region. The migas (fried breadcrumbs with meat) are to die for.

Monfrague

If you make only one day-trip outside of Caceres, make it to Monfrague. This 17,000-hectare national park is one of Spain’s most famous and home to many of Spain’s rare species of birds including the Eurasian Black vulture and the Spanish Imperial and Golden Eagle.

About an hours drive from Caceres, pack your hiking boots to climb over its dry pastures while later ambling through its oak woodlands and across its vast rocky outcrops. Aside from birds the park is also home to wild lynx, deer, otter and wild boar.  

A nice bit of exercise from all that fattening Spanish food will serve you well!

Malpartida de Caceres

The tiny village of Malpartida might only be home to less than 5,000 but it attracts a lot more thanks to one eccentric German.

Wolf Vostell, the man in question, was an installation artist that worked from the 50’s through to the late 70’s at his home (a derelict 18^th century wool washing complex) in Los Barruecos, a few kilometres outside of Malpartida.

Head there nowadays (it’s only a short walk through some breathtaking scenery) and you’ll see many of Vostell’s curious works made during his role at the forefront of the Flux movement, as well as those of contemporaries like Yoko Ono, Dick Higgins and Nam June Paik.

My favourite? The Fluxus-Buick-Piano, Vostell’s marriage of a classic American Buick with a grand piano for a dashboard. I’m guessing he probably never drove it.

And if you do decide to simply while away your time in Extremadura by residing in Caceres, rest-assured there’s plenty to see and do there too!

Originally published 12.17.11