Saturday morning brought us to Mérida, an old Roman town about half an hour south of Cáceres. The sun beat down unrelentlessly on my back, the argyle sweater I came equipped with was quickly packed away as I was sweating with only a shirt on, dying in the sun my eyes were forced shut by the painful light. First up was the Roman amphitheater where gladiators used to fight each other and animals too, as we all saw in Gladiator. If you remember the first fights with Maximus, that's more of the size of the amphitheater in Mérida is. Definitely no Colosseum, but no one was expecting that. Anytime I come across ancient Roman ruins I am left speechless. The one saving grace from my Italian voyage last year was Rome, the Forum, the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, the Parthenon...all of it, I was completely in awe, sighting it and soaking it in, absorbing it all throughout my body and soul -- I melted in the presence of such history -- long gone glories of emperors and armies and gladiators, plebeians and senators, artists, philosophers and playwrights. How many people, I would always ask, have been here before me? How many men died in this spot, how much blood was spilled? What ideas were pondered and expounded on where I am standing right now? How old is this rock I am touching and who else has touched it and when?
The Roman Empire has always been a subject of great interest to me and when I try to think of why, I don't know what to say...I am just simple floored -- marveled -- each time I am at some ancient ruins, standing in piles of rocks, in the middle of a amphitheater where 2,000 years ago there probably was blood being spilled right there where my shoes dug into the dirt. I walked slowly around the circumference, losing track of the rest of the group at times. Just walking slowly, observing and feeling all I could take in.
Right next to the amphitheater was the regular theater...and by regular I don't mean some lame place to watch a movie or play. I remember learning about Roman style outdoor theaters last year in Theatre 120 and that added so much more to the experience. There's one thing to learn and see pictures on a powerpoint in a big lecture hall with poor lighting, reading the plays that were preformed there...and then there's that energy you get by sitting in the standings staring down at this stage and warping back 2,000 years in your mind, being in the audience of a Roman comedy, with the chorus down in the center and the deus ex machina coming in from off stage at the last moment. To see those pillars reach up for the sky and clouds, to shout from center stage and have your voice carried throughout the whole venue...there's something otherworldly about these piles of marbles and rocks.
And then the remains of an aristocrat's villa. No walls really left, just tiles on the ground which ended up being pretty cool and intricate. The cyprus trees all the paths, I almost felt like I was back in Rome. Beautiful clouds covered the skies.
Next was a lunch of little importance, your typical menú del día in some oh so typical Spanish comedor. The only notable part of the meal, besides the table conversation which is always delightful, was my primer plato of champioñes con jamón (mushrooms with ham). I believe the first time I've had mushrooms in Spain. The wine was cheap, cheaper than usual -- had a plastic top and didn't say where it was produced, just where it was bottled. Unacceptable.
After lunch we visited the Roman museum which was much less exciting than the actual ruins. Here the cool artifacts of greatness and glory long past was robbed from it's resting places and thrown chaotically into a giant high ceilinged museum. Lopped off statue after lopped off statue, and nothing like a David laying around -- some cool mosaic pieces though and a bunch of rusted copper coins.
Back on the bus but just a short time down the road we stopped in a completely empty park bordering a river in Mérida. Oh yeah, and there were the remains of a Roman aqueduct there. Which has to be one of the coolest sites I've ever seen with my horribly deformed eyes. Pushing my glasses up and sticking that camera in my face, I snapped away eagerly then took a breather to truly absorb the glory that laid in front of me. A Roman aqueduct, incredibly old, incredibly well constructed, still standing and beautiful, a perfect example of the greatness and glory of Rome and their ingenious engineering and architectural skills. I wonder if at the time people walking beneath the aqueduct in Mérida were as in awe of it as I am now. If they quite realized how special of an achievement it was. It towers above me, I am small at it's feet...the rocks still fierce, 2,000 years after being placed in their immoveable spots, I try climbing and my fingers are cut by their jagged edges. The sun casts long, drawn out shadows into the deep green grass that is only occupied by my wandering dreams of a world and civilization long lost to time and infinity. Too soon I'm called back to the bus and I reluctantly leave, slowly, absorbing the last bits of history as much as I can as I head back to the bus, back to society and back to the year 2008.
Headed back to Cáceres to the hotel, lounged around and napped, everyone, because we were all quite exhausted from the Roman-filled day. After a group nap we decided to get our first pizza in Spain from Telepizza. It's just like any other cheap American fast food pizza chain, except instead of being cheap it's like 11€ for a medium pizza. Did taste very good though. I ordered pepperoni and it came with pepperoni and what appeared to be our sausage as well...which is apparently pepperoni as well in Spain. Some headed out, however a decent size of us staying in in our boys' room and chatted, finished off a bottle we had left over from the previous night. Fun chats and fun times until the wee hours of the morning, staying up later than we probably would have wished unwisely considering when he had to wake, but having such a great time in the moment that nothing really mattered and sleep was a far off and abstract thought.
No comments:
Post a Comment