When in Rome: Mérida

After visiting Valencia, I still had some time off from school, so I decided to take advantage of it and fit in another trip! By this point in the semester, I was realizing how few weekends I had left relative to how many places I still wanted to visit, so I tried to be strategic in my planning. I planned a quick solo trip to visit the cities of Mérida and Salamanca, taking the early bus from Sevilla to Mérida, spending the afternoon there, and then taking another bus to Salamanca. I would stay the night in Salamanca and then take the bus all the way back to Sevilla on Sunday evening. It was a lot of running around, and planning the travel was a bit tricky since Mérida and Salamanca aren’t really that close to each other. They’re several hours apart, but they’re along the same highway, so I figured it’d be smart to try and combine them into one weekend rather than two separate trips. I ended up being able to visit some beautiful places and check two more cities off my list, so it was worth it!

Mérida is the capital city of the autonomous community of Extremadura, which is just north of Andalucía along the border of Portugal. Even though it’s a capital city, it’s not very big. Its main tourist attraction is the “Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida”, which comprises a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is a collection of Roman structures left over from the ancient Roman colony of Emerita Augusta, and is one of the best collections of Roman architecture in Spain.

I arrived in Mérida, left my backpack in the consigna (“left luggage”, or, lockers), and then had to cross the river (the bus station is on the opposite side of the river from all of the sites.) For this, I walked across the Puente Romano (Roman bridge) over the Guadiana River. This is the longest Roman bridge that still exists in the world today, and it was amazing to see how well preserved it was. I then tried to navigate my way to the tourism office. I was navigating on a map I had downloaded to my phone and got mixed up, since I believe I had the wrong address for the tourism office. However, I eventually found it (it’s located right near the entrance to several of the archaeological sites), and got a proper map. I had some breakfast at a nearby café and planned out my day. I found Mérida to be very tourist-friendly, since when you arrive at any of the archaeological sites, you can buy a ticket that allows you access to all of the others for a cheaper, combined price. They give you a ticket and they punch holes in it as you visit each site, so it’s like a nice little checklist!

As I was searching for the tourism office, I actually stumbled across one of Mérida’s best-known structures, the Templo de Diana (the Temple of Diana.) This building is in the middle of downtown Mérida and doesn’t cost money to look at, so it was a nice surprise!

The first places I visited that required a ticket were the Anfiteatro Romano (Roman Amphitheater) and the Teatro Romano (the Roman Theater.) I was most excited to see the Theater, as I had seen pictures and it looked very impressive. Seeing it in real life did not disappoint! What remains of the theater includes several columns, stacked high into the air, with beautiful sculptures placed beneath them. I had studied Greek and Roman Theatre in many classes over the years, so it was fun to be in that space and imagine performances taking place there. Some other tourists that were part of a group even demonstrated how well the space functions acoustically, as they stood in the orchestra area and were able to be heard throughout the seating space. I learned later that Mérida hosts a classical theatre festival in these spaces, where they perform pieces of ancient Greek and Roman theatre. That’s something I’d love to see sometime!

I then walked across the street to the Museo Nacional de Arte Romano. This is a large, beautiful museum filled with Roman sculptures, pieces of architecture, and mosaics. The contemporary style of the building contrasted beautifully with the items on display, and was fun to walk through.

I walked a bit further away to see the Acueducto de San Lazaro and the Circus Maximus. The Roman Circus at Mérida is one of the largest in the world. It’s basically a giant track surrounded by the ruins of stone seating. It was very impressive.

I headed back towards the city center and stopped at the Basílica de Santa Eulalia, which had a crypt underneath the church that visitors could see. What was interesting was that when I was in the crypt, I could see directly up to the church above, as there were deliberate holes made in the ceiling of the crypt around the columns that support the building. There was some kind of First Communion ceremony going on, so I could see all the people milling about.

I went to see the Acueducto de los Milagros, which was very impressive, as well!

I walked through the center again and found the Arco de Trajano, a large archway that may have once been the entrance to the city. I then went to the Casa del Mitreo, an open-air pavilion that displays the ruins of a large home with beautiful mosaic floors.

I then went to the Museum of Visigothic Art, which was an interesting change of pace when compared to all of the Roman art I had already seen that day.

By then, I had seen almost all that I wanted to see, so I went to Mérida’s Plaza de España (every city has one!) and got something to drink at an outdoor café. It was a very hot, sunny day, and I would later find out that I got a pretty bad sunburn on my back and neck. Just a nice souvenir from Mérida, I guess!

The very last place I visited was the Alcazaba de Mérida, the remains of a Moorish fort. I was able to climb up the walls to get a nice view of the river, and climbed down some creepy stairs to the bottom of a well that had goldfish swimming in it! Very interesting!

I crossed the river again to head to the bus station, this time walking on Mérida’s more modern bridge, the Puente Lusitania.

Overall, Mérida was very fun, as I had never seen so many Roman buildings in one place before! People were very nice. I even got several compliments on my Spanish! (Though, some of the time, all I had said was, “Gracias”. I guess Mérida doesn’t get quite as many foreign tourists, so perhaps they’re surprised? Not sure!) The only thing that was unfortunate about Mérida was that, while the Roman ruins and museums are beautiful, I wasn’t that impressed by the rest of the town. Some areas looked rather rundown and weren’t kept up very well. I later found out in my European Geography class that Extremadura is Spain’s poorest region, and they get a lot of assistance from EU Funds with things like infrastructure, so I guess it makes sense if they aren’t as concerned with making the city look “pretty”. Still, I had a great time, and made it to the bus in order to head to Salamanca!