The start is early this morning, the stage is short and generally downhill, so no worries. I take my time on a rather pleasant country road.
But finally the landscape is quite monotonous : olive trees, vineyards, olive trees, vineyards... ^^ As we approach Merida, the farms become more technical with integrated watering and what looks like an industrialization of the olive trees where they would be planted in tight rows to be worked with a machine as for the vineyard ? It’s a bit of a challenge to my image of the olive tree that takes years to grow and needs space... Could it be something else ?
I arrive in Merida a little after noon and take a walk while waiting for my hotel. A rather nice city with a nice bridge with a nice pedestrian-bike area, water in the rio Guadiana, lots of birds in the parks along the rio, some green areas... In one of them, quite shaded, there is a fountain with drinking water which is very much in demand, by the people passing by and the inhabitants.
After a good nap I go shopping around 5pm, the heat is overwhelming. We’ll have to wait for the evening to go outside again !