Freeway Free in Merida: Ramblin’ round the Roman Ruins
If you OD on medieval ruins in Caceras, you have options. How about Roman ruins instead? Merida, another World Heritage Site, is only an hour’s train ride away.
Wow! Those Romans were some engineers! Stuff they built 2000 years ago is still being used in Merida, such as a magical open air theatre where we happened upon a kind of rock n roll High School Musical version of “The Rape of Europa” (That giant white caterpillar with black antennae is supposed to be Jupiter as a white bull).
The Temple of Diana has a 15th Century villa built INSIDE.
A graceful bridge across the Guardiana River is used now by pedestrians and bicycles as part of an extensive trail network.
Cars still rumble under Trajan’s Arch.
In many places the original Roman roads form the substrata for current city streets.
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And there is a great museum next to the theatre and amphitheater which makes sense of it all.
Allyson Johnson 