There was blue sky in Mérida, even if the temperature was low. We followed the road past St Eulalia’s Chapel, once again with a string of visitors, and out past the ancient city walls. The circus had been built out here to accommodate its enormous size of 440 metres in length and 114 metres in width, and to take advantage of the roads to Cordoba and Toledo passing by. Down the centre of the arena was a narrow platform called a ‘spina’ which had statues and columns on it originally, forming the centre around which the charioteers raced. Mosaics and paintings of the times show that the chariots were pulled by four horses, and were little more than platforms that the drivers stood on. It would have required colossal skill to manoeuvre horses and chariots at speed in a crowded field of competitors. The foundations of the circus are all there, and it is possible to stand at one end and imagine the crowd, the noise, the dust, the danger and the excitement.
Across the road there remained only three pillars and two arches of the Roman aqueduct, but a lengthy section of the one that replaced it in the 16th Century.
Just because the walls are several hundred years old doesn't mean you can't write on them.
A stork had found one of the Roman pillars irresistible when seeking a nest site. The Romans connected a series of springs and reservoirs to Mérida via the aqueduct and then channelled water out all over the town.Extensive excavations revealed a Roman thermal site, not with naturally hot waters, but with water piped from the nearby aqueduct and heated with a fire, creating a hot pool of 40 degrees centigrade. There were also outside and sports pools in the complex. Roman veterans were treated very well and were settled with land grants when their fighting days were over. As well as being a capital, Mérida had a population of valued men who would have merited high quality public facilities.
Many rich people built extensive houses, and we visited one (which might actually be two dwellings) called the ‘Amphitheatre House,’ where the remains of floors and parts of the walls have been uncovered. The excavations at the top of the site showed the channel from the aqueduct passing by, and throughout the house we could see provision for water, and one hole which was a drain for wastes. Apparently the Romans had the environmentally friendly notion of sending all sewage straight into the river.
We were a little shocked as we stepped onto the first mosaic was in our path to visit the rooms, but we soon realised that it was allowed and in fact necessary in order to traversethe site. There were some really beautiful geometric and pictorial floor mosaics, with one being of fish in incredible detail and another showing people treading the grapes.
In a couple of the rooms the painted designs on the walls could still be seen. They had more than one peristyle (colonnaded patio) with plants and water features in them and a garden terrace attached to another room as well.
Some of their rooms were enormous, and would have had a reception or large dining function, while others, including the kitchen, were quite small.
After three centuries of residence, wear and tear and alterations, the house was abandoned. Before this, someone had done a repair job on the mosaics that put in new stones, but did not follow the colours in the other parts of the design. One poor cupid is just a blob of cream stones above the shoulders.
It is an interesting question as to whether you erase ancient blunders, and apparently you don’t, as it is all an interesting part of the history of the site. It certainly made a common link of experience between the Roman householders and all those who have shoddy work done and appear on current affairs programs now. “He said that it would be perfect, and here we are, 2000 years later and he still hasn’t come back to fix it.”190
A necropolis took over the site of the house later, and there was a mausoleum where once I imagine that the children of the house played.
In the streets of Mérida there are sculptures everywhere, with some being classical figures and others being references to the Roman past. An unusual sculpture from 1986 by Refino Mesa was titled ‘Porteador’, and portrays an ancient figure carrying another ancient figure on his shoulders.
There is an Interpretive Centre where you can watch a film in Spanish on the Roman era, and we saw it in an audience of two. It probably had a very informative commentary, which I could not follow, and Keith could not keep up with, so we were none the wiser after our twelve minutes. More interesting here were the actual excavations, which are displayed under the building. We could see parts of the Roman wall, the reinforcements that the Muslims had done using a hotchpotch of stones from other buildings, and a beautiful mosaic floor.
We walked back to our hotel and collected our belongings, to move to another where we would be able to save eight Euros ($16) per night. It had all the same facilities, with the only difference being that the interior decorators had no qualifications and no skills, and shouldn’t have used a strip of tartan wrapping paper as a decoration midway up the wall. They should have stopped when they realised that they couldn’t cut it out straight. I only wasted five minutes noting such minor details and was glad to have more money to do something interesting. Keith only noticed them when I pointed them out, and being much more of a careful decorator himself, was appropriately amused.After lunch we were off again, to the site of old Moreria. Its name came from the time when the Muslims were defeated by the Christians, and Muslim residents were allowed to remain but were put into one district here. Eventually they were completely expelled but the name stuck. The excavations here told the story of the Roman road, which we walked along as if we were Romans on our way to do some shopping. Roman roads have lasted so well because they were constructed with a deep large stone border along each side, with many layers of materials and a final layer of paving stones in the middle, and with provision for drainage.
Not all the bridges were built to last, often being of timber, but many were mammoth feats of engineering. The one here over the Guadiana River was built at the start of the colony and is 792 metres long with 60 arches. It has had many renovations and repairs over the centuries but most of it is as it was built.
The city had a wall around it, and the bridge and the gates were of strategic importance. The streets were to a grid plan and on this site, many dwellings have been discovered. Most had shops or other businesses attached or in the downstairs sections. One place showed evidence of privatisation of the public porticos that flanked the streets, much like cafes take over foot paths now. Some Visigoth remains were found, built over Roman ones.When the Moorish army attacked in the early 8th Century, all the buildings in this area were demolished so that there would be a clear area to defend the city from. It was all to no avail and Mérida was occupied. New buildings were built on this site in the 9th entury and then came the Christian reconquest. All these facts were established with archaeological evidence dug up on this enormous site. A huge, simple government building is built above this site, and workers cross a little bridge over the excavations to reach their offices.
We were becoming used to the idea that there would be an underground world everywhere, if you only dared to dig. Imagine what is involved in starting a new building project here.It was a little disappointing that it did rain in Mérida, but we decided to ignore the few spots and visit the Alcázabar, the Moorish Citadel. It was essentially a military headquarters as well as a place for muslims seeking refuge from uprisings, and is now a vast and empty yard with high walls all around.
We walked along the walls, which are not now suited for dealing with enemies, since walkers are revealed from the waist up and can laze about on benches. Apparently taking the city was not easy, and there were frequent skirmishes and uprisings, which is not surprising given the height of the political and economic power in Mérida at the time.A stockpile of mosaics were stacked up behind a shed; a project to be worked on another day by the archaeologists who are still investigating this site.
The foundations of other buildings have been revealed, showing that there would have been rooms and buildings within the walls at different periods. A neo-gothic portico looked foolishly insubstantial against the towers and the walls, and is attached to the end of the complex which is now used for government offices.
Most interesting of all was the Moorish cistern, a deep underwater well and water storage inside a building, with wide ramp like steps leading down one side of a wall and another set for exiting leading up the other. This was to facilitate donkeys moving up and down with water pots, since the supply was used by many in the town. The same building had a shell symbol on it, reminding us that the Knights of the Order of Santiago had taken over this place and had established their head quarters in what is now the office section which serves the Regional Government. To sum Mérida up, you would have to say, ‘layers upon layers upon layers’.A quick dash up John Lennon Street, named according to our young informant ‘because there are lots of discos and music places up there’, and we reached the very beautiful library. Of course it had its feet in an archaeological site, which is interesting. It has an open core and a path that spirals up, absolutely fantastic for kids to let off steam on. It seemed to be a multi-functional building, but we did not investigate the other things on offer, only climbed to the fourth floor where the internet access was.
In theory the access is half an hour at a time per patron, but I was lucky enough to be indulged and I am sure that it was well over an hour later that a newcomer tapped me on the shoulder. The young supervisor was very friendly and we thanked him most sincerely, since he had given us a priceless opportunity in this town that has no internet cafes.Out in the cold again, I wished in vain for Strepsils as we passed under Trajan’s arch and towards out hotel. The heating was on, as the land lady had said that it would be from 7.30 pm until midnight, so we did some washing and hung it up to dry.
In southern Spain it is common to find orange trees lining the sreets. These manicured orange trees have fruit on them which nobody seems to bother picking.
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