Toledo to Caceres….a Casco Antigua frozen in time

September 24th, 2025

Our host texted us en route and advised we could get in any time, as she had left the key in a lock box. Arrived in good order, unloaded the car and parked where we were advised free parking could easily be found. For those of you who gorged on Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, these were famously partially filmed in Cáceres, with the city’s historic old town serving as King’s Landing. As I am a big fan of those shows, I was keen to see how the old town looked. But first, we headed out to a very early/late lunch in the Plaza Mayor, which is  large and very atmospheric:

It was super pleasant sitting in the warm sun, enjoying some white wine, a modest meal and doing some people watching.

 

September 25/26th, 2025

We woke up refreshed and anxious for a walkabout, btw the 2-storey apartment is super clean, modern and well-equipped …the morning is beautiful with a temperature of 18C and the walk to the Plaza Mayor is no more than 10 minutes. The following commentary and pics actually cover 2 days, as we wanted to absorb this Centro Historico (which has a UNESCO World Heritage designation) in no particular order, simply following streets and laneways in total disorder. One can quickly understand why the directors of several medieval shows chose this town, as it almost feels that time has preserved the entire old town with minimal modern intrusions. We start at the Arco de la Estrella, and as it looked during the filming of GOT:

Meandering through the streets was really pleasant with relatively few tourists to spoil the moment, each turn of a street or laneway providing some new surprise…

 

 

A particularly interesting spot was the Plaza de San Jorge with the Iglesia de San Francisco Javier Y Collegio Compañía de Jesús (Society of Jesus > Jesuits)…

Further on, we came upon the Iglesia Concatedral de Santa María. The church originated in the 13th century, on the site of what is believed to have been an earlier mosque, after the Reconquista. Between the late 15th and mid-16th centuries, the building underwent extensive rebuilding in a tardogótico (late Gothic) style, while retaining some of its earlier Romanesque elements…

The entrance fee also allows one to climb some 100 steps to the top of the tower …not for those who are somewhat claustrophobic …

However, the view was top-notch:

The newer old town also had lots to offer, shops, restaurants, various services (Annie even had her glasses adjusted and when we offered to pay, we were ushered out of the store with a firm, “No need to pay.”!

…and we quite enjoyed Restaurante Taperia Los Ibericos on the Plaza San Juan, with a nice view of the Iglesia San Juan Bautista …the evening restaurant scene is rather interesting: if one can ‘hangries” away until about 8:15 a magical transformation takes place, in a matter of 15 minutes, once empty restaurants, patios, etc. become lively, animated places full of people, the less fortunate who have not reserved or waited to long to make their choice simply wander around like lost souls searching for resto salvation. Luckily, we had secured a table and were able to enjoy the ambience of the moment. Additionally, we celebrated the sale of our house as our agent had advised that the buyers’ “subject to’s” had been released. We wouldn’t necessarily recommend selling one’s home while on a major road trip, but it worked for us. Now comes the simple matter of arranging our move and finding a new home, as we will be officially homeless on November 27th, 2025!

…walking back to the Serpendity Apartment was a treat, enjoying our afterglow (nice bottle of Rioja VinoTinto) and basking in the glow of the town around us…tomorrow though we must move on, the road trip waits for no one!