siguiendosalamanca: You don’t need a map in Mérida

So since before I even got to Spain I said 3 things:

1. I want to go to Sevilla for Semana Santa

2. I want to go to Fatima (Portugal)

3. I want to go to Mérida

It’s my last weekend here in Spain and I finally accomplished all 3 of these desires!

It took me long enough…

Friday morning at 7:45 am I got on a bus with one the girls in my group to go to Mérida (I know, when I barely wake up to make it to my classes on time, how did I make it to the bus station before 8am? I don’t know either, excitement for the day made me surprisingly awake for 6:30 when my alarm went off, and then I slept the 4 hours there). We got there not having a map or anything so we asked for one at the information booth at the bus station. They don’t have any, so we asked “Where are the ruins?” Answer “In the center, cross that bridge.” So we started our adventure. While crossing the bridge we saw the Roman Bridge, so once we got on the other side we headed in that direction. It turns out you don’t need a map in Merida because there are a bunch of tourist signs leading you to the different monuments. We had 4 hours and 15 minutes to find the ruins we wanted to see and not die of hunger, heat, or dehydration. We survived thanks to the random fountains that we saw kids running through and decided to follow their example…but in a more mature manner. To preserve time I left it to my friend to read any signs of interest and tell me about them while I took pictures. With this method I learned that the so called Temple of Diana in Mérida wasn’t really a temple to Diana, but they just call it that, and “It was built a long time ago” when I asked for more detail the answer was “Way back when…” I promptly chastised my history major friend and reminded her that this was her career and my hobby. When we got to the Amphitheatre and Theatre I came to the realization that I like culture I can climb on. As I’ve said to some of my friends before, “It’s just not a vacation if there aren’t ruins…or a beach.” Unfortunately, my friend and I kind of failed in our planning and forgot about siesta. So just about everything closed down for 2 hours in the middle of our visit. Luckily some sites were still open and we spent a lazy afternoon just walking around with occasional stops in the shade or to cool ourselves in a fountain. Overall, I’d say it was a pretty good day; I got to see ruins, I remembered sunscreen and I got a tan :)