A very short drive today, 65K over to the border with Portugal. We drove towards the hotel, gassed up (35.08liters over 675K driven) 36.80€ and then decided to head north to Alberqueque. A big fortress on the hill, but it is Spain and if there is a hill there is a good chance there is a castle or fortress on top! We found somewhere to park and headed down to the plaza. Not too many people about but we went for a drink. There was a British couple having tea and calamares. We followed suit as well, except we had beer or in my case una clara which is basically a beer with Gaseosa. A shandy? Refreshing and not too alcoholic. It was a very nice little town and there was a wedding in the area as we saw lots of people in fancy dresses, very high heels, those headpieces they call whatever and men and little boys in suits. It really was steaming hot, I could feel myself seeping through every pore. There were a couple of small bus tours stopped near the plaza with a lot of interest in this small town. The thing is they are small but all very important little towns. They are very close to the border with Portugal and as you can imagine small towns changed countries with regularity. Bring in the Knights Templar (yes, those guys, again) then the French, specifically Napoleon, who, before Hitler were trying to take over Europe. Lot of stuff going on. Add in a nobleman who was very cosy with the queen and friend and confidant of the King. A recipe for disaster if you ask me.
We headed back to Badajoz, which also gets short shrift from
the published travel community, and checked into our NH Hotel Casino. We put
the car in the garage for the night. After we unloaded in our room we headed
out for more exploring. We walked across the pedestrian bridge into town, the
river is alive with waterfowl flapping to rid themselves of children. It is an
old fortification, once a ferry and then a ford across the amazing Rio Guadiano
and looked for a place for refrescos. We found the Plaza Solidad and had drinkies
and a recommendation to eat which turned out to be tapas. Shepards pie Spanish style
with tomato, called Torta Irlandes,( Irish pie) and Paul had a very interesting
solomillo tataki! It was awesome! We had walked a lot in spite of driving up to Alberqueque and
Paul was not walking over that damn bridge, his walking had its limits and he
had found his! We found the Taxi stand but no taxis, so I bravely called for a
radios taxi. Now as you know it is much more difficult speaking on the phone in
a foreign language than face to face. The call dropped and I thought “ crap now
what?” a taxi drove past and with great waving of arms, he stopped. He took
pity on us and as we entered his taxi my phone lit up and his dispatcher was
giving him hell! It was very interesting. I played the age and foreigner card
and the dispatcher gave up and I told the driver he was an angel and thank you
so much. He did get a very good tip! I must admit I whined a little, but ya
gotta do what ya gotta do! 
Another day ended successful. The room is very comfortable,
not sure about the A/C system. Everywhere is different. Tomorrow is another
day. Peace!
We had come over the
Paseo de Conejero. A conejo is a rabbit so draw your own conclusions! Not a
huge altitude but the land all around here is cattle country, with huge vistas
of grassland interspersed with a few trees under which the cattle commune, some
grape vines, oak trees and cork trees ( yes there is such a thing!) maybe
citrus, here and there. The thing is, every travel book we have kind of ignores
this area. It is like you fall off the edge of earth yet some of the most
important and influential people related to the conquer of the new world came
from here. I’m not saying they were good people but, man, how they changed the
world!
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