Walk along the Tamuja

The last time we did this walk it was in May, with lack of rain the cattle and sheep had eaten the sparse grass down to the earth, the scenery was dusty and brown with just a trickle in the river. 
Here in Extremadura the coming of the rain transforms the landscape almost within hours. With the sustained rainfall we have had spread over the last two months we knew the walk along the Tamuja would have been restored to a verdant paradise, a perfect example of the iconic Extremadura eco system at work.  And so it was, the river was brimming, lush green grass, Iberic pigs, cows and sheep grazing under the holm oaks, stunning.

 Our usual destination, an ancient watermill only added to the beauty of the environment, as usual it was all for us, not one other person in sight.At the mill we crossed the weir to walk back on the other bank to see different aspects of the scenery.

On our way home to the finca we stopped off, as usual, in Salvatierra de Santiago for lunch at the Bar Fé, our favourite place for many reasons.

ANOTHER WALK TO THE BOTIJA MOLINOS

Our favourite Sunday walk ending up in the charming bar at Salvatierra de Santiago.

This was a beautiful sunny day only last Sunday, since then it's been rather wet, unusual in May but we will do the walk again this Sunday, the waterfall from the weir must be spectacular after all the recent rain. Absolutely love this walk, the bird life is wonderful, full of bee eaters nesting in the muddy banks, many storks and herons. Always a flock of goats, cows, sheep and Iberic pigs on the way to the perfect pastoral peace of the mill buildings surrounded by vast areas of dehesa. 

About a 2 hour walk. 

   

 

LOS BARRUECOS NATURAL MONUMENT & THE WOLF VOSTELL MUSEUM

The Los Barruecos Natural Monument is in the middle of the Cáceres plain on the road to Portugal going west.

A spectacular natural creation that man has helped to shape. The unique undulating landscape is dotted with lakes and enormous granite boulders.

Los Barruecos has been declared a Natural Monument because of the beauty of its landscape with strange and eerie  granite formations sculpted by water and wind. 

Water has played an essential part in creating this unique natural habitat for numerous animal species, White storks and the grey herons find this an ideal place for their prolific colonies.

This has also been an ideal place for human settlement, as demonstrated by the many archaeological remains dating from the Neolithic through the Roman period and into 19th century. 

The 18th century wool processing factory (now the Wolf Vostell museum) was a major focus for the trashumancia, the herding of sheep down to Extremadura every winter from Asturias and Galicia. Here they were shorn and the wool washed  using  the abundant water from a natural lake sustained by making a dam and channeling the water into a huge boiler where it was heated to wash the lanolin from the wool, it was then packed into bales and distributed all over Spain.
A number of routes have been created through this vast expanse with differing durations and itineraries.

The Peñas del Tesoro route starts at the Vostell-Malpartida Museum and ends at the Peñas del Tesoro, skirting the Barrueco de Abajo lake. This is the most popular route, lasting just 30 minutes.

It passes one of Wolf Vostell's installations, typically car+ concrete+ impact

The Barrueco de Arriba route is a little longer. This is a 1 hour route around the lake that gives it its name.

But if you are looking for something more demanding, other routes take between 2 and 3 hours.

If you visit Los Barruecos, don't miss out on the Vostell-Malpartida museum, which houses a unique collection, consisting mainly of the work of the German artist Wolf Vostell who made his home and studio at an 18th century wool washing complex, a fascinating group of buildings which now house the collection.

 Wolf Vostell is the father of this museum, as he was for the Dé-coll/age technique, the European Happening, the Fluxus Movement and video-art. His art has a special spark to it – an unmistakable touch of originality –  discover it for yourself, art students, historians and general public visit this unique collection from all over the world, we are lucky to have it so close by.

The museum is made up of two noteworthy collections. The first of them, called Wolf y Mercedes Vostell, contains several works of art entailing elements of fetishistic symbology from our times, such as the car, television or concrete, transformed to warn us of the shadows and conflicts enclosed in the society we live in. Examples of works of this type are "Concrete Bull", "The Thirsty Dead Man" or the garden sculpture, "Why Did The Trial Between Pilate And Jesus Take Only 2 Minutes?"

The Fluxus collection – which was donated to Extremadura by the Italian collector, Gino di Maggio – is made up of a group of 250 works by 31 North American, European and Asian artists. 

The whole collection by conceptual artists contains 60 works, including pictures, picture-objects, sculptures and installations belonging to 48 artists that have had a special connection to the Vostell Malpartida Museum activities since it started in 1976. 

I have visited many times but always find a new message, something I had not noticed before. It's a great day's excursion combined with a walk around the lake and then a visit to Caceres and its monumental city. 
Only 40 minutes from Finca al-manzil.

RESERVA NACIONAL DE CAZA DEL CIJARA

Cijara is one of the wildest and most remote areas of Extremadura, situated in Caceres province on the border with Castillo La Mancha. It covers a huge area of 25.000 hectares with just one or two villages situated near the lake but mainly huge areas with nothing but water and deep pine and cork oak woods. It is a hunting reserve, the wild boar, deer and game birds are prolific, whilst walking on the many walking trails there are usually sightings of deer, the wild boar are more secretive and usually nocturnal. Bird life is amazing with birds of prey and many water species.

A wonderful day out but take a picnic as there are no cafés or restaurants anywhere on the winding narrow roads.

This is one of the trails through the woods and fabulous rock formations covered in vivid green lichen.

Needless to say we had the trails all to ourselves even on this gorgeous spring day

BOOK TOWERS OF MERIDA, EXTREMADURA

Las Siete Sillas ( the seven seats), are situated in the gardens in front of the library by the river in Merida. 

These massive granite towers are furnished with giant bronze tomes and sheaves of bronze documents, heavy reads indeed!

The monolithic sculptures are by Ruffino Mesa, a sculptor, artist and writer born in Badajoz in 1948 http://www.lacomella.org/es/escultura/escultura  for more information on his marvellous works.

The inspirtion for Las siete sillas was from the legend of the seven seats at the Roman theatre in the ancient city of Merida. The theatre was left abandoned after the Christian powers overcame the Roman administration in about 400 AD. The pagan Roman ways were swept away and theatre performances were considered a danger to the new morals. Over the centuries the theatre construction was buried by earth and much of the stone looted for new construction but seven rocks remained above the ruins, named the seven seats and according to legend where the Moorish conquerers sat to discuss the future of the city at the end of the 9th century.

The sculptures were started in 1990 and erected in 2000, in the video it is clear that the now pleasant and extensive green gardens by the river were a barren waste in 2000.  Thanks to progressive town planning several urban projects were began 15 years ago including much tree planting and some iconic buildings and structures by prestigious Spanish architects, the span of Calatrava's signature bridge can be seen in the background .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_Calatrava 
A walk along the river is really interesting, park on the west side of the river in new Merida and walk over the 2000 year old Roman bridge into the old town passing by the Alcazaba.