For those of you wondering the Cadac was a great success last night and from now on it will, without doubt, form a regular part of our cooking regime on hot days.
Today was the day to explore the nearby town of Plasencia. As we drove to our campsite Plansencia had certainly looked impressive from a distance and our neighbours on the campsite had visited and said the old town was “nice”.
The Cathedral from the River Bank – looks quite impressive doesn’t it
There were some warnings from Rough Guide though, that the town looked more impressive from a distance than it actually was. However the Rough Guide is always getting things wrong so I was not going to let such negativity get in our way.
Sarah always takes the dogs for a morning walk and the idea today was that it should be a short one so Melek was fresh for our walk into Plasencia and also to enable us to start our journey before the day go too hot. Unfortunately today, of all days, she got lost and by the time she got back the day was already warming up and she decided that Melek would not cope with another 6 or 7 miles, so she opted out of the trip. I don’t know whether she had insider information but it turned out to be a good decision.
So I set out for a pleasant 3 mile or so walk along the river bank to Plasencia on a nicely constructed walkway cum cycle path. I kept my eyes peeled for otters, but they were keeping a low profile. My only mild excitement on my walk was disturbing a small snake which had been sunbathing on the track and slithered quickly into the undergrowth.
My time in Plasencia started well with the woman in the Tourist information Office speaking excellent English and pointing out the relatively few points of interest. Being dog free I was looking forward to a museum or two, but the only museum in town related to textiles, which is not my scene.
The first stop was the Cathedral, which definitely looked the part from my walk in. However, it turned out to be a half finished mishmash of two different Cathedrals. The first was built in the 13thand 14thCenturies and then in the 15thCentury they thought they would improve things by starting a new Cathedral with the intention of eventually incorporating the older building. Due to various technical problems they gave up in the 18thCentury and simply bricked up all the unfinished openings, leaving Plasencia with a half finished new Cathedral and an old Cathedral, but only half of it!
The new Cathedral Front. You can see various bricked up openings
To make matters worse, from my point of view, they wanted me to pay to enter! Every religious building we have been in thus far in Spain and Portugal, and if you’re a regular reader of this blog you will know there have been many, have been free, including Cathedrals on the UNESCO World Heritage status. So I was not best pleased to be asked to pay to enter this less than fine example and promptly refused.
New Cathedral to the left, Old Cathedral to the right. Huge amount of brick work is visible where they gave up their efforts to finish the New Cathedral
I wandered the old town admiring a few buildings such as the Ducal Palace and a pleasant small Romanesque church of St. Nicholas, which contained a fine 13thCentury carved font and again refused to pay to enter another small church. Finally I stopped for a drink and sandwich in the not very impressive Plaza Major.
Ducal Palace
13th Century carved stone Font.
After lunch I finished by visiting the city’s tiny bit of medieval wall, which was behind railings and presumably again required payment to visit and finally a splendid piece of Roman Aqueduct, which was the highlight of the day.
Roman Aqueduct. Highlight of the day!
By now it was mid afternoon and the temperature was in the low 30’s and I was not looking forward the walk back. Three miles in 30 plus temperatures and without much shade was not my idea of fund and when I finally arrived back at Basil I wolfed down a pint of iced water.
You may have gathered that Plasencia was not my favourite town. Its old town has lost most of its old buildings and what remains are far inferior to numerous examples which we have already seen in Northern Spain and Portugal. To add insult to injury I strongly object, in fact refuse, to pay to see the second or third rate. The aqueduct is a great example and was free to view. It was probably too big to fence in and charge visitors!
Tomorrow we are moving on to a National Park nearby, where we are promised by our neighbours, great bird life and views.