Basking in Badajoz

This past Saturday, Patrick and I, along with a few of our friends, traveled to Badajoz.  Badajoz is the largest city in Extremadura, and only a short train ride away from where we live (not to mention the train station is right behind our piso...Score!). We spent the day wandering aimlessly around the city and happening upon many beautiful spots. The weather was perfect, and so was the company. 

While exploring Badajoz, we happened upon this beauty, Las Jardines de la Galera.

It's an enclosure around an old fortress surrounded by Arab gardens. Painters often come here for inspiration, and let me tell you, there is plenty of it to be found.

We also were able to visit the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on Saturday, and being that it was the "Dia de los Catedrales" (who knew there was such a thing?), there was no fee for entry. We're budget travelers, so naturally, we took advantage of this. It's a very old cathedral, having been built in 1270, but not finished until the 16th century. It was beautiful in some parts, and pretty cryptic in others. We don't have much to compare it to at this point, but were slightly unimpressed. 

Some other highlights of the day were exploring the old Alcazaba, eating a solid breakfast of champions of churros and cafe con leche (serious craving right now!), and enjoying some  1 euro cervezas in the sunny Plaza de Espana.

King of the Castle

Something else we discovered on this trip...Contemporary Art is definitely NOT our thing. I mean, how are we supposed to interpret pictures of telephone poles and paint-by-number looking art? Seriously.