Zafra to Merida

From Zafra, along the Roman road, our Ruta de La Plata was taking us to Mérida, a city of all things Roman.

Mérida has been populated since prehistoric times and was founded in 25 BC, with the name of Emerita Augusta (meaning the retired legionnaires of the army of Augustus). The city, by order of Emperor Augustus, was founded to protect a pass and a bridge over the Guadiana river. Emerita Augusta was a strategic Roman route between the gold mines around Asturica Augusta and became the capital of Lusitania province, and one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire. Mérida contains more important ancient Roman monuments than any other city in Spain, including a triumphal arch; an amphitheatre; a theatre; a Temple of Diana, part of a forum complex; the Puente Romano, a bridge over the Guadiana River that is still used by pedestrians, and is the longest of all existing Roman bridges; a fortification, the Alcazaba, built by a Muslim emir on the Roman walls; the remains of a Circus Maximas, used for chariot racing; two enormous aqueducts and a Roman villa with mosaic floors, for starters.

We knew there was lots to see and booked an apartamento for 5 nights that would also allow us to avoid cycling on from Mérida on a weekend (fear of motorcyclists!). It was also one of our longer cycles to get there as there is not much in the way of towns worth staying in in-between. It was actually not just a long cycle of 62 km (35 is the sweet spot for me), but a boring one. It was just through flat agricultural land, with a horizon we never seemed to reach. This was really the only interesting building and it was early on.

We only went through one small town where we stopped for a coffee and fortunately had packed a lunch that we ate on the little-used access road for agricultural machinery off the N630.

There were some groves of old, twisted olive trees and endless field of pruned grape vines and we saw the truth in our book’s statement “as pilgrims (on the Camino route) slog their way across huge, featureless vineyards the benefits of a bike become self-evident.”

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At least we were moving through that landscape relatively quickly but we had to prevail against a headwind wind most of the way. My hands were numb, my butt hurt and Mérida remained an elusive goal until we finally began a gentle descent to the Guadiana River and there it finally was, a statue of Emperor Augustus heralding the way in.

We continued descending to the river through not-very-attractive urban sprawl and onto the world’s longest Roman bridge in existence, almost 800 m long and now pedestrian/bike only. It really is a beautiful bridge spanning the river and an island in the middle.

The Puente Romano was built in the 1st C CE. with 62 spans (60 remain).The piers are designed to withstand river current as they are rounded on the upstream side and square on the downstream side. It has undergone at least two significant restorations: once by the Visigoths, in 686 and once by Phillip II in 1610. Seventeen arches were destroyed in 1812 as a defensive measure against an attack. It is was pedestrianized in 1991 as road traffic was redirected to use the nearby Lusitania Bridge.

Some additional city history from Wikipedia: after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the Visigothic period, Mérida maintained much of its splendor, especially under the 6th-century domination of the bishops, when it was the capital of Hispania. In 713 it was conquered by the Muslim army; the Arabs re-used most of the old Roman buildings and expanded some, such as the Alcazaba. The city was brought under Christian rule in 1230. During the 19th century, in the course of the Napoleonic invasion, numerous monuments of Mérida and of Extremadura were destroyed or damaged. Later the city became a railway hub and underwent massive industrialization. On 10 August 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, in the Battle of Mérida, the Nationalists gained control of the city.

After our bridge traverse, we walked up beside the old walls of the Alcazaba (fortress) at the end of the bridge, through a square and into some narrow streets of the old town where we easily found our apartamento turistico building, CMDreams Platinum, looking very new and modern next to some older buildings.

As is often the case, we had been sent codes for the front door and the apartment door that were activated at the designated check-in time. We had arrived almost on the dot, so only had to wait a few minutes before getting access to our apartamento one floor up. It was very roomy with one big kitchen, a dining/living room area with a floor to ceiling window and balcony providing lots of light onto our quiet street. We brought our panniers up and then Jim carried the bikes up and installed them in the second bedroom. Perfect! We were pretty happy with the value of this accommodation as with almost all our bookings - €300 for 5 nights - with a good kitchen, dishwasher and washing machine, and close to everything including a Dia grocery store one street over - but no bars, cafes or restaurants on our street to generate noise. Cycle like a Roman, sleep like a baby - I hope!

Our day - 62 km. Flat, boring and windy.