James on the Way: Camino 2016: Via de La Plata - Day 4 - On the Way again. Mérida to Aljućen

I slept quite well but it was cold and I had to take the blanket from the other half of the double bed to cover me and then I was fine. I set the alarm for 7:00 and took a shower, packed up and headed out. I wanted to stop at a "tienda to get some fruit and water for the day but nothing opened until 9:00 and it was only 7:45 with dawn just breaking so I head out. I knew I would pass the old roman aqueduct on the way out of town and it is amazing to think that the structure is still standing after. More than 2,000 years.

Several pairs of storks had set up house on top of the structure. I counted 25 nests each with a stork on it but there could have been more.
I passed an open bar and had my standard Camino breakfast. Café con leche and tostadas. All for 2 euros.

The aqueduct carried water from a Roman reservoir about 5 miles away. Both the town of Mérida and the Proserpina. This is largest known Roman reservoir still in existence. The dam that was built is in the left in the picture.

It was very interesting as part of the dam wall had been excavated by archeologists and section could be seen from the lower side. The Camino trail went along one side which was very pretty.
We left the dam and reservoir and headed out north towards the little town of Aljucén. We walked through areas used for grazing cattle and pigs which were the type of landscape I saw from the train yesterday. Lots of trees and also large rocks that would make it difficult for any arable farming.

There were also spring wildflowers beside the trail.

Yesterday I said that I thought the trees looked like olive trees but my German guidebook says they are "steineichen" so perhaps someone can find out for me what they are called in English
I continued to follow the yellow arrows and signs showing the trail which sometimes were clear and some doubtful since the trail has been adjusted several times over the years. These show some of the differences.

At one point a man with a white horse appeared ahead of me but, unlike last year when I was with Christa I was not on the wrong path! See Christa blog from last year for the significance of this.

Continued on through hilly but pretty landscape, past a little village and arrived at the little town of Aljucén at about noon after 19.8 km, about 12.5 miles. Enough for day one of my journey. I found the Albergue, which seems to be comfortable, clean and friendly. I was the second one there but soon a few others hollowed checked. They have 15 beds and at the time of writing there are 9 of us here.

I went to the local "tienda" and got some fruit and a bottle of Aquarius (similar to Gatorade) for the trail tomorrow. And then found a place for a light lunch - bocadillo and beer with some olives and onions served for free.

I looked around the town but there is not much. Three bars/restaurants, the church (16th century but closed) and small houses some streets lined with orange trees but I think they are the bitter kind of the fruit. Very neat and clean and well maintained but clearly not a wealthy community.

An old well

Later we were invited to take a tour of the "museum". This was a collection of old tools etc. in a private house. Most I would call junk and it was all explained in Spanish. Not very interesting but it passed the time til dinner.

At about 7:30 six of us went to a local bar/restaurant for dinner. We were 2 Germans, 2 French, 1 Australian and 1 American with no universal languages. It was a fun evening with a nice soup followed by Spanish tortilla with salad and fish cakes and included wine. It was very good but we were all too full for a desert of flan.