Caceres

Caceres. is a uniquely special place. Its ancient city walls preserve a near complete complex of medieval and Renaissance buildings of golden, mottled stone. It is as if an entire city has been left behind, like a forgotten cupboard of treasures, moth eaten, dusty and wholly evocative of both its former glories and the passage of time. Proud armorial crests are supported by crumbling masonry, strong weeds grow from crevices in noble doorways, and every glorious minor palace and church of modest splendour is topped by bristling stork's nests. It seems the birds have moved in to occupy the city in the absence of human interest across recent centuries.

Caceres Hotels

Parador de Guadalupe - Marques de la Romana 12 Guadalupe Caceres 10140 Spain
Parador de Caceres - Calle Ancha, 6 Caceres 10001 Spain
Hotel Don Carlos Caceres - C/ Donoso Cortés, 15 Caceres 10003 Spain
Husa Alcantara - Avenida Virgen de Guadalupe 14 Caceres 10001 Spain
Barcelo V Centenario - Manuel Pacheco Urbanización Castellanos Caceres 10001 Spain
Melia Caceres Boutique Hotel - Plaza de San Juan 11 Caceres 100003 Spain
Hotel Extremadura - Av Virgen de Guadalupe, 28 Caceres 10001 Spain
Hotel Alfonso IX - Moret, 20 y Parras, 9 Caceres 10003 Spain
Antigua Casa del Heno - Finca Valdepimienta Losar de la Vera, Cáceres Caceres 10460 Spain
Ara Hotel - Juan XXIII 3 Caceres 10001 Spain
Hotel Caceres Golf - Carretera Nacional 630 Km 558 Caceres 10195 Spain

A wander through the lanes and alleyways at night is silent and magical; you half expect to meet a cleric in his robes, or a torch bearing servant running from silent house to mansion doorway. There is rarely anything to spoil the illusion, and it is not just a few squares that are worthy of attention: every inch of old Caceres rewards exploration.

Caceres remains off the main tourist routes despite being declared a World Heritage site in 1986 and classed as the second most important monumental city of Spain by the Council of Europe. History aside, it's a surprisingly lively place for its size and has a frenzied youth scene, particularly during term time.

GETTING YOUR BEARINGS

The Plaza Mayor is the heart of the city's social life and the most obvious place to get your bearings. It's a long cobbled square that sits just outside the old city walls. At one end is the rather orderly and stately Ayuntamiento, and around three sides the low arches of colonnading provide cool walkways; above them buildings glare whitewashed in the baking heat.

The tourist office sits below the city walls here, to the right of a central flight of steps which lead up into old Caceres The old town itself is a series of narrow lanes linking secluded, irregular squares, closed to all but residents' traffic.

Modem Caceres is adjacent to the old walled town, but in no way impinges on it. The lanes that run off the Plaza Mayor directly opposite the old town offer good ground for cheap accommodation and places to eat and drink. Calle de los Pintores and Calle del Alcazar shoot off the top end of the plaza as busy shopping streets. At the end of them, and beyond the church of San Juan, Calle San Pedro leads down to Avenida de Espana, the central spine of the modern town, a busy tree filled boulevard with a popular paseo.

Caceres Attractions

Plaza Mayor

The Plaza Mayor alongside the old town offers the perfect opportunity to sit with a cool drink and admire a length of the city's outer defences. Caceres has been walled for centuries: the El Christo gate on the south side of town is Roman, the mud adobe Torre del Horno, visible here beside the Ayuntamiento, Arabic.

The plaza is the noisy hub of Caceres life, by night chock full of young people drinking and talking, by day busy with traffic and the comings and goings of the town's people.

A Walk Through Old Caceres

Every inch of the old town within the walls is worth exploring. Most of the palaces are now in use as civic buildings and not open to the public, but if doors are open it is worth looking inside at the inner courtyards that were such a feature of these elegant homes.

Climb the steps from the Plaza Mayor and enter beneath a broad, low arch. The lane straight ahead leads to Plaza de Santa Maria.

The cathedral of Santa Maria is a modest Gothic church. Inside are the worn stone tombs of the nobility and an altarpiece dating from 1551; put a coin in the slot to light up lively battle scenes and portayals of the life and resurrection of Christ.

Directly opposite the cathedral is the Episcopal Palace. Notice the medallions either side of the doorway: that to the left represents the Old World, that to the right the New. Wander round to the left of the cathedral (as you face it) and you will find the Carvajal Palace, with its round, rubble masonry tower dating from the 12th century. Walk back and round to the right of the cathedral to continue through perhaps the most richly textured area of the old city.

Twice honoured with the visit of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Palace de los Golfines de Abajo is one of the most beautiful palaces in the city. It is wonderfully embellished with armorial carvings, griffins and stone balustrading. The overall Gothic style shows Mudejar influences in its paired windows and repeated decoration.

From here the lane leads to the Plaza San Jorge. The majestic, crumbling facade of San Francisco Javier, an 18th century Jesuit church, dominates the square. Weed covered steps lead up to a Baroque portal flanked by dilapidated towers, each crowned by top heavy straw nests, the dull clacking of stork's bills constantly overhead. Nearby the 15th century Casa de Los Becerra lurches above an overgrown doorway, a now run down city mansion decorated with proud armorial carving.

Climb the steps up the side of the church and at the top turn left past the Palace de Las Ciguenas (Palace of the Storks), now a military building. Beyond it is Plaza de las Veletas, with the Provincial Museum .

In the adjacent Plaza de San Mateo is the church of the same name, a mishmash of styles, with a highly dilapidated clocktower of red brick; the interior is bare but for its Baroque altarpiece.

From Plaza San Mateo wander down to Plaza de Santa Clara with its four huge, healthy palms and little whitewashed houses, and then back up through the old town just inside the city wall along the enchanting Calle de Adarve de Padre Rosalio. Continue straight ahead, passing steps to the Plaza Mayor, to the Plaza Conde Canilleros and the Casa Toledo Moctezuma, a palace built by Juan Toledo Moctezuma, grandson of Tecuixpo Istlaxoohitl, a.k.a. Isabel Moctezuma, the Aztec princess.

The Provincial Museum

The Casa de las Veletas, which houses an archaeology and ethnology museum, is of great interest in itself. It was built on the foundations of an alcazar and beneath ground level is an aljibe, an Almohade water cistern from the Moorish citadel that stood here. It is well worth seeing for the aljibe's vaulted ceiling, supported by granite columns and horseshoe arches.

Casa Museo Arabe Yussuf al Borch

This is a small, private museum dedicated to Arabic studies; tours in Spanish.