Photos

I was surprised when I found that this little town wasn't represented yet in TE. It is quite small nowadays (12700 inhabitants), but it had some importance in the past, starting in early Pre-History (they found traces of human occupation dating from 300,000 years ago).

Through the centuries VIII to VI BC it was the capital of a kingdom of Vettones, a people of Celtic origin. Romans came in the 1st century BC and ascended it to the status of municipium (the second highest rank of Roman cities, just below colonia) in the 3rd or 4th century AC. The walls that still surround the old part of the town were built during this period and are said to be among the best preserved Roman walls in the world, although they were restored during the Muslim occupation (711 to mid 12th century AC) and in the Middle Age.

It is still the seat of a diocese which could have been founded as early as the 4th century, although the oldest historic evidences are from 589. The seat of the diocese is shared with the capital of the Spanish region of Extremadura, Cáceres, since the 1960's.

It is a quiet and charming little town that doesn't seem to receive much tourists, with much of the old part occupying a hill overlooking the wide valley of the Alagón river, a tributary of the Tagus. I enjoyed strolling in its old streets and the views near the cathedral, which is the subject of my next post. Like in all villages and towns where we passed on this short trip, they were celebrating Carnival, so there was a nice party atmosphere in one of the major squares, with many people, namely children, wearing masks. I am a bit disappointed for not having managed to get any photo of them, but it was one of those silly days when I didn't feel inspired enough to struggle against my shyness to photograph people. The fact that we were just passing by and we wanted to get quickly to our destination, the beautiful Jerte valley, didn't help.

This intriguing sculpture, titled "La Doncella y el Minotauro" (The Maid and The Minotaur) is located in a garden in the centre of the town, near the limits of the old part. The placard on the pedestal of the sculpture refers a word (Machaco) which is the name of a painter from Coria who recently had an exhibition in the not so far away Portuguese town of Castelo Branco, so I guess that the author's name is Machaco. Coria has some fame for an unique encierro (running of bulls), which is quite barbaric to the bulls (you can read about it here), so maybe the sculpture evokes that event as much as it evokes the legendary figure of the Minotaur. Anyway, this is Spain, so I bet that bulls are an important part of the local folklore.

WS: Close-up of the placard on the pedestal.

Location of the POV (latitude, longitude): 39.9855,-6.537 (I am not sure about the accuracy, but my guess is that the error isn't higher than 150 meters / 500 ft).