18 September 2019
Madrid
On Saturday, we caught a mid-morning train back to Madrid. The idea was to make it to Madrid by lunchtime, stow our luggage, and spend the afternoon in Madrid (our flight back to the US was early Sunday morning). However, the train got "stuck" at a train station on the southern outskirts of Madrid. Literally, the first station that also had a subway stop. After about 30 minutes of trying to figure out whether and which train might "go", we hopped onto the subway and took it all the way to the hotel (near the airport, on the north side of town). After a mile long walk from the subway station to the hotel, we finally stowed our stuff and headed back out. Since the afternoons are long, we did have time for a nice stroll through central Madrid before having dinner at the oldest restaurant in the world (it was fine, but the atmosphere and story were definitely much better than the food) before heading back to the hotel for bed and our morning plane.
Extremadura Day 6
On Friday, my host spent the morning and early afternoon showing us around Cáceres. It was really fantastic to have a personal tour guide. This is not the easiest place to visit, and it's not a place non-Spanish speaking tourists frequent, so it was great to have someone to translate all of the information.
We started simply by seeing all of the important buildings in the old town, including walking a bit on the old city wall.
Apparently there is a history in Cáceres that everytime a new mayor is elected, he "redoes" the Plaza Mayor. We thought these letter blocks were a nice addition. You can also kind of see different patterns in the pavers making up the plaza. There are also some metal borders installed here and there. Our host told us that the most recent redesign was supposed to include a bunch of bluetooth-based interactive experiences. But apparently these have never worked.
This was inside the primary church in town. Apparently these alterpieces are *supposed* to be gilded and painted (see the one in the pictures from Trujillo), but this one was overlooked. It was stunningly beautiful.
View from the belltower.
So the first day we were in Cáceres, we stopped into the tourist office. We were told that the cistern, which is now within the Cáceres museum, was a must see. It is apparently the second most important cisterns in the world--second only to one in Istanbul. There was a contemporary art exhibit having something to do with gold foil going on while we were there.
In addition to the cistern and a bunch of other Extremaduran artifacts, there is also a small art gallery with some compelling works housed within.
After the long morning trek, we headed back to Plaza Mayor to find some lunch. We headed down through this little upper plaza, where crews were readying for some kind of concert.
After lunch, I we headed back to our hotel so I could finish up some work and we could rest up for dinner. We decided to wing it and try to visit a restaurant called Atrio, a two-star Michelin restaurant hidden in the streets of old town Cáceres. We walked in without a reservation, but they were completely able to accommodate us. Dinner started with a tour of the wine cellar, which included a special collection of this one French wine (I'm sure I'm supposed to be able to relate that story to you better):
This was the restaurant's wine list. We went with the sommelier-designed pairings.
I'm not sure how none of the food pictures made the blog photo cut. But there was wine. And food. Good wine. And good food.
On the way back to the hotel, we happened through this square again. Concert was in full swing. We hung around a bit before heading back.
We started simply by seeing all of the important buildings in the old town, including walking a bit on the old city wall.
Apparently there is a history in Cáceres that everytime a new mayor is elected, he "redoes" the Plaza Mayor. We thought these letter blocks were a nice addition. You can also kind of see different patterns in the pavers making up the plaza. There are also some metal borders installed here and there. Our host told us that the most recent redesign was supposed to include a bunch of bluetooth-based interactive experiences. But apparently these have never worked.
This was inside the primary church in town. Apparently these alterpieces are *supposed* to be gilded and painted (see the one in the pictures from Trujillo), but this one was overlooked. It was stunningly beautiful.
View from the belltower.
So the first day we were in Cáceres, we stopped into the tourist office. We were told that the cistern, which is now within the Cáceres museum, was a must see. It is apparently the second most important cisterns in the world--second only to one in Istanbul. There was a contemporary art exhibit having something to do with gold foil going on while we were there.
In addition to the cistern and a bunch of other Extremaduran artifacts, there is also a small art gallery with some compelling works housed within.
After the long morning trek, we headed back to Plaza Mayor to find some lunch. We headed down through this little upper plaza, where crews were readying for some kind of concert.
After lunch, I we headed back to our hotel so I could finish up some work and we could rest up for dinner. We decided to wing it and try to visit a restaurant called Atrio, a two-star Michelin restaurant hidden in the streets of old town Cáceres. We walked in without a reservation, but they were completely able to accommodate us. Dinner started with a tour of the wine cellar, which included a special collection of this one French wine (I'm sure I'm supposed to be able to relate that story to you better):
This was the restaurant's wine list. We went with the sommelier-designed pairings.
I'm not sure how none of the food pictures made the blog photo cut. But there was wine. And food. Good wine. And good food.
On the way back to the hotel, we happened through this square again. Concert was in full swing. We hung around a bit before heading back.
16 September 2019
Extremadura Days 4 and 5
Day four was pretty uninteresting, from a tourism perspective. I spent the morning at the conference: gave my talk, attended another that was also in English. Then Tim and I both spent the entire afternoon working. The conference gala dinner followed: we hopped on buses to take us a castle where we dined on delicious Spanish food and drink.
Thursday, I spent the entire day at the conference and with my new collaborators. Tim went for a long run up a big steep hill. On his way back through the city he came upon some film crews. Cáceres is a popular place for filming (several scenes of the Game of Thrones were filmed in town, for instance). For dinner on Thursday night, we went with the workshop organizers to a delicious restaurant across town from our hotel.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)