The Country Inn Finca Santa Marta is placed between three medieval towns, Trujillo (14km), Cáceres (60km) and Guadalupe (60km) and the Roman city of Mérida (80km)
- http://pinomarro.es/web/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Guia-de-las-rutas-de-Extremadura.pdf
- www.turismocaceres.org
Trujillo
The town is known for being the cradle of conquerors like Pizarro whose impressive bronze statue stands in the Plaza Mayor. Its arab fortress and stunning walls dominate the town and surroundings planes. Trujillo’s bullring is one the oldest in Spain. French occupants in 1808 cut off half of the palace towers.
Trujillo itself is an open, luminous, comfortable, enchanting and peaceful city that transmits a certain feeling of the well-being of the medieval Spanish hidalgo. Upon approaching Trujillo, the traveller feels as though he has encountered a medieval ship beached on a rocky hill – its towers and ruins trim themselves against the sky. It is a beautiful medieval city, an obligatory stopover for visitors who wish to discover the history of this vast Extremaduran landscape.
From Trujillo Music Festival in www.spanish-fiestas.com/festivals/trujillo.
- www.turismotrujillo.com The site of the Trujillo town, with all round info
- www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trujillo.
Cáceres
See the following links for comprehensive info on this Unesco Heritage Town with remarkable ancient monasteries, churches and palaces, all concentrated in the old part of the town, only 40 minutes drive from the Finca.
www.euroresidentes.com/euroresiuk/guides-spain/guide-to-caceres.htm
www.museovostell.org/lavadero.htm (Museo Vostell)
Guadalupe
It was one of the most important monasteries in the country for more than four centuries. Unesco declared it a World Heritage Site in 1993. The main church was built by Alfonso XI and his immediate successors in the 14th and 15th centuries. The 16th-century reliquaries chapel connects Santa Catalina with the baroque sacristy (1638–47), lavishly decorated and boasting a series of paintings by Zurbaran. Pilgrims have come since the 14th century to worship the Black Virgin of Guadalupe. Christopher Columbus visited the town to pay homage to the Queen Isabel and King Fernando of Spain before his discovering journeys.
See more information at the following sites:
Mérida
Mérida preserves more important ancient Roman monuments than any other city in Spain, including a triumphant arch from the age of Trajan.
See under spain.info the explanations on the remarkable Museo de Arte Roman set up in 1986 (project of the important architect Rafaael Moneo). At Wikipedia the Puente Romano, a bridge over the Guadiana River that is still used by pedestrians, and the longest of all existing Roman bridges. Annexed is a fortification (the Alcazba), built by a Muslim emir in 835 on the Roman walls, home to offices of the present regional Government.