Game of Thrones country: Caceres and Malpartida de Caceres trip

 

This past week Jose, the girls and I drove about three hours north of Seville to visit Extremadura, a region of Spain which was used pretty extensively in the Game of Thrones series because of its beautifully well-preserved architecture and natural scenery. HBO shot throughout Spain (including in and around Seville) during the series' run and it's easy to see why.


Although we stayed in another city, we spent one day in Caceres which is famous for its medieval walled city that has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We contracted a walking tour and braved the high temperatures to explore the many palaces, churches and stone streets found inside the Monumental City, several of which were used by GofT.



I especially liked hearing about how the squabbles and fights between the city's nobility affected the architecture as they tried to outdo one another with family shields, balconies, towers and how one family financed changing the angle of the most famous arch so that a carriage would fit through and they wouldn't have to walk to their front door like a commoner.




It was an interesting tour (at least for Jose and I) but Laura, Vera and Carla were more interested in the gift shops and having lunch. We were rather disappointed to not find many restaurants open. I'm still not sure if that was because of COVID or because it was July. In any case, I was glad to be able to see a gorgeous city in Spain that I'd never visited before and one that seems left off many must-see lists. You can see Caceres in a day if you want and it's worth it.



Not far from Caceres city is the village of Malpartida de Caceres and its natural reserve which was also a GofT shooting site. This may have actually been my favorite place we visited in our four day trip. It was absolutely beautiful with its rock formations and lakes. We drove out, had a walk around and a picnic.





The park had plaques that explained each scene that was filmed there and the pictures I took don't really do the reserve justice. The rocks were so cool and we saw birds, frogs, plenty of cows and people fishing.

Our trip to Extremadura was supposed to just be Jose and I but we unknowingly scheduled it the same week my in-laws were going to the beach so our plans changed. Traveling with three kids in tow is not the same and we had to adjust and adapt. This was our first sightseeing trip with the girls and we've decided they are still too small for it. We are going to stick to our regular plans of renting a house somewhere and being more low key. Luckily our hotel did have a pool but we could only use it for an hour a day due to COVID. I think that was the girls' favorite part of the trip anyway. That and spending the ten euros we gave each of them to buy whatever they wanted (it was an experiment that ended exactly as we thought it would with Laura impulsively buying the first thing she saw and Vera choosing the most random thing in the shop).

I'll be back with another post on the other two cities we visited during this trip soon, so check back.

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