Cáceres

Once again, Juan wowed us by taking us to an incredible city with a rich history. This time it was Caceres, an hour o so away from Badajoz. It might have been our favorite city. besides the others. Ha ha. I'm channeling Nana. By the way, DeBrys, I became the official favorite the other day. She said, "You're my favorite," and then she looked like she was going to say the next part, but she couldn't remember what it was, and I hurried and left! Ha ha ha! If you escape the "besides the others" part, are you the actual favorite? 

Anyway, we walked around the old city of Caceres, where much of the architecture has been preserved. Maybe it was too far out of the way for some of the border fighting to destroy it.

Everything was so lovely and pictureseque, especially Ruby. We fell in love with every cobblestoned street.

Before we went to Caceres, Juan prepared a wonderful meal for us at his apartment. Gema came over and everyone laughed about old pictures and videos of Victor and Sofia. You can't have Gema around without having hilarious laughter.  I forgot to tell you, before we met in the square, she had come to Sonia's house in the morning the day before and walked into the bedroom to wake me up. Scott was in the shower.  She is so funny! Bleary-eyed, stumbling out of bed was not how I envisioned seeing my friend after 20 years! But, as Gema described it, "I knock...I don't hear any sex....so I go in! ja ja ja ja ja!"  She is THE funniest.

And backing up again, this is from the museum of contemporary art in Badajoz.

Ptolemy gave Scott a bundle of worry dolls to take on the trip. He needed them! Scott handles all the worrying in our family. This trip was nice in that we didn't have to worry about how to get from Point A to Point B, or even what Point A and Point B were. Our wonderful hosts took care of all that.

More laughter, reminiscing about running from the cops in Bloomington and how our roommate, the only one who wasn't participating in the revelry, got caught.  And about how we drove around Portugal lost and 5 of us had to sleep all night on the sidewalk next to the car. In the morning, we had baguettes and canned tuna on the hood of the car for breakfast. Adventures definitely don't have to be perfect, or anywhere close, to be memorable. That is one of my favorite memories.

We went in a museum in Caceres to see the ancient things. This was where the population stored their water.

Fortunately, we were there in time for the city's passion play. As you can see, it depicted Christ on the cross. There was cello music and the priests took Christ down from the cross, lowered him into a casket, and carried the casket through the town. In spite of the corpse looking like a crash test dummy, it was a solemn and reverent occasion. We ended up being trapped in the old city because every alley we took led us to the procession. It was fine with me. I wanted to stay there forever!

I loved this guy. There is such beauty in daily work.

Next time maybe we'll stay in the Caceres Medeival Tourist Apartments. :) My computer doesn't do accents, so I can't spell Spanish words right unless I'm on my phone. Annoying.

We stopped in a tchotchke shop for non-alcoholic beverages and souvenirs. This city has a long history with Knights of the Templar just like Jerez de los Caballeros.

Or maybe we'll stay at Hotel Don Carlos. This picture, which I sent to Freestone, led us to a long text discussion about our dog's pretend secret life. I said, "I can't believe Don Carlos has been operating a hotel in Spain this whole time and we didn't even know." Freestone took it and ran with it. He is so funny.

We were wandering around, enjoying the scenery, when suddenly we were at the trendiest, hippest restaurant in town. Juan has been orchestrating the whole walk to lead us here. See what I mean about not having to worry about the planning? Juan did all the worrying and planning for us! Scott and Juan have the same personality. They like the same things. Scott looked up all the restaurants we went to, and they were all rated super high. They were all the exact places Scott would have chosen. This one was so fun.

Desserts. The cheesecake was SO cheesy. It was made from cheese that most Americans would not touch. It took some getting used to, but I ended up eating the whole thing and loving it.

The restaurant was called Perhaps.

Gema and I had to say goodbye. This time, she didn't barge into our bedroom, but it was pretty early in the morning. This woman works hard! She does one TV show in the morning and another one in the afternoon. I was sad to leave her. I hope she can come visit soon.

Last Spanish breakfast, which Juan kindly brought to us. Every morning, everyone in Spain has fresh-squeezed orange juice. Oranges are so cheap, and so delicious. We lamented many times at how affordable and accessible fresh food is in Spain compared to the U.S.

Driving to Portugal in two cars, and on to the next adventure.