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Caceres, Extremadura

April 12, 2019 2 Comments Filed Under: Food, Food history, Travel, Uncategorized

caceres pic Kerstin Rodgers

The old quarter of Caceres is one of the settings for the Game of Thones TV series. A renaissance web of cobbled squares, narrow lanes, an ancient archway, the filmmakers would have had to change very little, perhaps cover a few modern street signs, to convey a fantasy medieval town.

  • Caceres pic: Kerstin Rodgers/ Msmarmitelover.com

It is a pity that not many foreign tourists visit Extremadura, Spanish for ‘extremely hard’. It’s an arid yet majestic area west of Madrid, on the border with central Portugal. The people are very friendly and open, with none of the wariness of the tourist fatigued denizens of more popular areas. You still get free tapas with a drink, virtually unique in Spain today. Prices for food, drink and accommodation are reasonable.

  • Caceres pic: Kerstin Rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

I stayed in a posh Parador, an ex-monastery in Plasencia, an hour north, and a single room in a hostel in Caceres. The thing they had in common? The internet never works in your room, only in the common parts. Be prepared to tether your phone! I’m on 3, which gives you unlimited data it claims, unless you are abroad. You can easily whack through your allotted amount in an evening, leaving you with no data even to follow google maps for the rest of your trip.

  • Caceres wedding pic: Kerstin Rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

I visited several museums, which reveal Arab, Roman and Palaeolithic histories; plus a gallery of conquistador Cacerena families, no shame here, just pride; passed a wedding, women of Caceres in their pomp and glamour; ate in working class restaurants; drank Extremaduran wine and ate sheep’s cheese while perched at a bar; listened to music, la saeta, echoing in the street; purchased good quality tinned fish for my daughter; saw a wheelchair-bound solo mother whizzing along, babe dexterously in arms; bought Kate Middleton style Spanish leather riding boots in a sale; and walked and walked.

  • caceres pic Kerstin Rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

The most famous food in Extremadura is cured meat, jamon. Families will spend 300 euros on a leg and make it last a year. Thick soups, fried breadcrumbs ‘Migas’, dessert truffles, a kind of fungus, are popular. They used to eat lizards but this is now banned.

Food

I didn’t have the budget or the time, on this occasion, to eat in the posh restaurants, of which there are several including the Michelin-starred Atrio.

La croissanteria de Laura: light yet buttery, laminated dough a gogo, as good as the French.

La Taperia: good and popular tapas bar.

En Ca Rosi: friendly neighbourhood restaurant, lunch with wine and water 10 euros.

Fear not hipsters, there is a cereal cafe La Casa del goloso. I ordered cinnabon and milk.

museo de caceres p ic:Kerstin Rodgers

Museums:

They are mostly free for EU residents. I was there on so called Brexit Day, 29th of March 2019. One upside of not leaving, I got free entry.

Museo de Caceres

Casa Museo Arabe – a typical Arabic house, complete with incense.

‘Do you want to go to the bano?’ asked the guide as I was leaving.

‘Er no, I don’t need to go to the toilet but thanks for asking’ I replied.

‘No’ he laughed, ‘I meant do you want to see the hamman style bath in the basement’.

Museo de Historia y Cultura Casa Pedrilla Y Casa-Museo Guayasamin

Museo Apple – vintage working Apple computers, which I didn’t have time to visit.

Dalmatian in caceres pic Kerstin Rodgers

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Comments

  1. John

    April 14, 2019 at 6:19 am

    If you only saw her, how do you know the woman in the wheelchair was a single mum?

    Reply
    • msmarmitelover

      April 14, 2019 at 11:30 am

      Yeah I don’t. But she was on her own, managing a wriggling toddler, while managing narrow streets, in a wheelchair. What I meant was solo mum.

      Reply

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MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

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Kerstin Rodgers/MsMarmiteLover
My piece in the @hamandhigh about the 3 day @heat My piece in the @hamandhigh about the  3 day @heathostile training course. Incredibly interesting & challenging. Link: https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/things-to-do/hostile-environment-training-9037980 to read more #hostileenvironmenttraining
Supper club dishes from Saturday: pickled beetroot Supper club dishes from Saturday: pickled beetroot eggs, cheeseboard, stracciatella & cucumber, tomato/strawberry/peashoot salad with real balsamic & spruce oil, home cured dill gravlax, smoked salmon, homemade sourdough crisp bread, potato salad with wild fennel & lots more! #supperclub #midsummer #eattherainbow (miss you @linnsoederstroem)
Last nights supper club. My first supper club in 2 Last nights supper club. My first supper club in 2 years was great fun. I’m pleased with my food, the guests were lovely, it looked magical in the garden. But the weather! I even had to bring my duvets from the bedroom out. They looked like refugees. But this brought even more laughter! Next event September
My first supperclub in two years will take place t My first supperclub in two years will take place this Saturday 18th June starting at 7.30pm. Tickets are £50 byo you can book here: https://msmarmitelover.com/product/midsommar-supper-club there are still a few places left. Pescetarian menu. Scandi and botanical influences. #gettingbackonmyfeet #postpandemic #smallbusinesses #supperclub #london
I recently completed the 3 day @heathostile train I recently completed the 3 day  @heathostile training course. On the last day I was kidnapped by ex-special forces for a few hours & learnt how to deal with compliance training & a hostile environment. It was one of the most interesting experiences of my life. 3 intense days of combat first aid, navigation & how to survive in a war zone. I handled short, long guns, mortars, grenades, bullets, and tourniquet & bandaged an amputee. I learnt where to sit in a car, where to hide from a bullet, where to protect myself if in a car. It was brilliant. Highly recommended for any journalists, photographers, cameramen, charity workers, paramedics going into any difficult environment say a disaster or war. The stories from the tutors & the other participants were so interesting. My piece on it out soon. Book a course: https://hostile-environment.co.uk/  They also do jungle & desert training. I’d love to join the Antarctic expedition. Anyway that’s me hooded in the front. #adventures #het #hostileenvironmenttraining #experiences #travel
Bundoran beach, Donegal. I spent a week knocking o Bundoran beach, Donegal. I spent a week knocking on doors, going to libraries, searching through graveyards for my Irish forebears. It’s really hard to find information prior to 1850. I found this in last years trip to Arbroath in Scotland. Headstones wear out, records are lost or burnt in a fire, everybody has the same name and are known by nicknames, successive children have the same first name, that usually means they died and the next one is called by the same thing. Women did have children out of wedlock, and people remarried more often than you’d think, plus families fall out & never see each other again. I learnt that my Irish great grandfather michael went to Glasgow & met a woman who came from a similar place: somewhere wild & beautiful by the sea. Then they and their children came to london. Chasing the work & the money always. Politics and economics matter for they push people around from rural to city. And now we rodgers are Londoners. #ireland #scotland #family #travel #roots
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Tullaghan, county Leitrim, Donegal, where my grea Tullaghan, county Leitrim, Donegal,  where my great great grandfather john Rodgers was a postman, then a tailor, then a pawnbroker. #irishheritage #donegal #myancestry #irish #rodgers #travel
I’ve taken down the previous post as it’s poor I’ve taken down the previous post as it’s poor timing considering what’s happened over the last 24 hours. Being British I’ve not grown up around guns. It’s interesting to be on this course and find out more about the reality of them, although my focus is learning the ‘golden triangle’ of first aid, communications and navigation. But at the same time It’s depressing how in America nothing will ever change regarding gun law. RIP.
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