Where's Bertie? He's in a large car park in Plasencia (not to be confused with Palencia, where we stayed on our way south). Exact location: 40.03180, -6.08011.
Weather:Gloriously sunny with just a few high-level whispy clouds around this afternoon. Topping out at 22 degrees.
I didn't have great expectations of the Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz (MUBA, as it's known) and thus thought that neither the art nor the city museum would hold us for long, and that we could fit them both into the morning with a coffee in between.
Ha! I should know better!
MUBA turned out to be fabulous. Thirty-two rooms of the work of Spanish artists, almost exclusively by names that were unknown to us (there was one piece by Picasso; I think the Morales collection is now in the city museum). Perhaps that's why I didn't expect much of the place, but the standard, subjects and curation were such that we were thoroughly diverted by what we saw. Moreover, this museum seems to have achieved something unique amongst the many galleries we have visited: lighting such that you don't have to dance around in front of each work trying to find the spot where your view isn't marred by reflection.
I admit that by the final half dozen rooms we were getting a bit arted-out, but at the same time, we didn't want to miss any of the permanent collection, so we pushed on through.
Coffee was next on the agenda...
By the time we were suitably refreshed we had to concede that we didn't have time to do justice to the City Museum. It's such a shame that we arrived in town on a Sunday, writing off two days from the point of view of museums, as there are at least two more I would have liked to have visited, but spread out at one per day to avoid culture-blindness. Perhaps we will have to return to Badajoz.
Back at Bertie, a quick lunch was accompanied by 1980s pop being played at volume from a nearby flat. I happened to be outside when YMCA came on, and who can possibly listen to that without joining in with the moves? (Everyone else at the Aire, apparently...)
An easy drive on nearly empty roads (including a motorway) brought us to Plasencia, which I'd chosen as our destination because: a) it was the right sort of distance away to knock an afternoon-drive-sized chunk off our journey north; and b) although it doesn't have an Aire, it has a large car park next to some parkland on an island on the river, which sounded nice enough.
I knew nothing else about the place when we arrived and a quick consultation of the guide book made the place sound even less alluring that Badajoz.
Having spied the sizeable cathedral on our drive in, after a cup of tea we wandered off into town for a closer look. Around it we found a whole cluster of old buildings, all displaying bi-lingual (Spanish and English) information signs outside.
Narrow old-town streets took us from there to the Plaza Major, which wasn't overly impressive as main squares go.
Usually we arrive in a town in the late morning and find ourselves looking around during the afternoon closed period. Today it was gone 5pm when we left Bertie and thus we got to experience the place with people out and about - a pleasant change (even if it did make tea late tonight!).
Rather than walk back along the road we took to the parkland behind Bertie. It was, of course, full of people either exercising or just being out and about.
We may have only wandered around for an hour and a half, but based on what we saw we are again of the opinion that the guidebook is a little harsh on the place.
Weather:Gloriously sunny with just a few high-level whispy clouds around this afternoon. Topping out at 22 degrees.
I didn't have great expectations of the Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz (MUBA, as it's known) and thus thought that neither the art nor the city museum would hold us for long, and that we could fit them both into the morning with a coffee in between.
Ha! I should know better!
MUBA turned out to be fabulous. Thirty-two rooms of the work of Spanish artists, almost exclusively by names that were unknown to us (there was one piece by Picasso; I think the Morales collection is now in the city museum). Perhaps that's why I didn't expect much of the place, but the standard, subjects and curation were such that we were thoroughly diverted by what we saw. Moreover, this museum seems to have achieved something unique amongst the many galleries we have visited: lighting such that you don't have to dance around in front of each work trying to find the spot where your view isn't marred by reflection.
I admit that by the final half dozen rooms we were getting a bit arted-out, but at the same time, we didn't want to miss any of the permanent collection, so we pushed on through.
Coffee was next on the agenda...
By the time we were suitably refreshed we had to concede that we didn't have time to do justice to the City Museum. It's such a shame that we arrived in town on a Sunday, writing off two days from the point of view of museums, as there are at least two more I would have liked to have visited, but spread out at one per day to avoid culture-blindness. Perhaps we will have to return to Badajoz.
Back at Bertie, a quick lunch was accompanied by 1980s pop being played at volume from a nearby flat. I happened to be outside when YMCA came on, and who can possibly listen to that without joining in with the moves? (Everyone else at the Aire, apparently...)
An easy drive on nearly empty roads (including a motorway) brought us to Plasencia, which I'd chosen as our destination because: a) it was the right sort of distance away to knock an afternoon-drive-sized chunk off our journey north; and b) although it doesn't have an Aire, it has a large car park next to some parkland on an island on the river, which sounded nice enough.
I knew nothing else about the place when we arrived and a quick consultation of the guide book made the place sound even less alluring that Badajoz.
Having spied the sizeable cathedral on our drive in, after a cup of tea we wandered off into town for a closer look. Around it we found a whole cluster of old buildings, all displaying bi-lingual (Spanish and English) information signs outside.
Narrow old-town streets took us from there to the Plaza Major, which wasn't overly impressive as main squares go.
Usually we arrive in a town in the late morning and find ourselves looking around during the afternoon closed period. Today it was gone 5pm when we left Bertie and thus we got to experience the place with people out and about - a pleasant change (even if it did make tea late tonight!).
Rather than walk back along the road we took to the parkland behind Bertie. It was, of course, full of people either exercising or just being out and about.
We may have only wandered around for an hour and a half, but based on what we saw we are again of the opinion that the guidebook is a little harsh on the place.
https://caminoconfidential.blogspot.com/2018/04/galisteo-to-plasencia.html
ReplyDeleteI was there last year! Didn't see the man with his head in the sand though.
If we hadn't been in a rush, we would happily have stayed a couple of days, and taken a walk along the river. Just a pity that we weren't so lucky with our timing as you - we arrived on market day, but well after it had finished.
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