Day 5 was mainly a travelling day. We were headed for Seville but it's a fair way from Salamanca so we broke the journey overnight in Caceres - stopping in Plasencia at about lunchtime for a bite and a coffee.
All of a sudden I am reminded of the Yemas (see day 3 for pic) and can describe them in 2 words - "don't bother". They are the confectionery equivalent of a "local delicacy" - you know, the sort of stuff that you'd only eat when there's absolutely nothing left and even then you'd maybe hold your nose. These things looked like little egg yolks and were very soft. They tasted eggy and sweet and where the lemon ingredient was is anyone's guess. I definitely wouldn't recommend them (but, actually I did eat them all) and AJ wouldn't touch them.
Anyway, anyway, off to Plasencia... Sat nav took us in very easily (although it's all on the main road to Caceres so hard to miss) and after a bit of shuffling round we found an easy parking place. It's quite a nice little town to stop in and we ate at a cafe on the main square - all very pleasant. It's town hall has a clock tower with a bloke who dings the hour bell just like on Trumpton - a shame we only saw 1 o'clock but never mind.
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| Plasencia "Trumpton" Town Hall Clock |
After lunch it was back into the car and then the sat nav went and let us down. It took us around the town, sort of, trying to send us the wrong way up a one way street (thankfully ignored) but then it sent us around some newly built roads and into a market / gypsy camp / dead end sort of place. We forced our way out of that, gleefully ignoring O'Reilly's instructions (as the sat nav was now known) and finally we arrived on some roads that we both agreed would take us to Caceres.
Everything was going well and we entered the heart of the old town of Caceres but then O'Reilly told us to turn right and, flipping heck, this is a bit of a narrow street... Some Spaniards were walking the other way waving hands and fingers in a good natured way as if to say "turn back" so we stopped. They saw the sat nav, jabbered a bit and chuckled and then helped us work our way backwards for the 20 yards required to get us out of the street/alleyway.
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| "The" Caceres Street (apols for googleness) |
It appears that I had taken O'Reilly too literally and should have waited an extra 20 yards to turn. Now then, the hotel we were staying in was on the Plaza Mayor and I saw a sign which matched the sat nav but then O'Reilly said turn left and, whilst I could see the Plaza beckoning about 30 yards away, the sign in front of me said no entry. The thing is... you can't actually drive through the Plaza... At least not in the middle of the afternoon. No wonder it looks so clean (it's a very clean Plaza). What I was then left with was a requirement to park somewhere, anywhere, within a "reasonable" distance of the hotel. We managed to find a space about 5 mins walk away but it was definitely temporary.
The Hotel Casa Don Fernando is a nice little place - all modern and a bit quirky but very good for the price. They had a cut price deal on the local multi-storey so I plonked the A1 in there.
Caceres are trying to do tourism but there's not really much there. A nice square and a very ancient old part of town but not a lot of gold in the churches maybe and definitely no castle. I did take a couple of pics but nothing worth adding here. We wandered about it a bit but felt we'd earned a lie down before tea.
Finding dinner was probably more tortuous than it needed to be. We'd had a drink in a place called El Pato earlier and that seemed OK. It was also recommended in the DK guide but when I went on Tripadvisor it was unanimously panned - seriously panned. So, we ended up wandering around the busier end of town (definitely not much fun) and coming back to the square where we had a meal in the restaurant next door. The service was good but the house wine was distinctly ropey and the desserts came in plastic tubs. Oh dear... Still, I guess you can't have a good meal every night (unless you've loads of dosh).
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