I posted last night before dinner, so I have to mention about our interesting encounter with Mérida’s answer to Manuel from Fawlty Towers.

Apart from getting the pre-dinner drinks orders all scrambled and charged to the wrong rooms, our hotel barman then morphed into the food waiter when we were frog-marched to a dining room for our pre-ordered 3-course meal.

Somewhat surprisingly, the room had been set as if for a wedding reception.  Manuel and his waitress assistant then became Speedy González x 2.  Never have we been served so quickly.  Before we’d all been seated our soup was plonked in front of us. As soon as one person had finished the admittedly delicious gazpacho, the plate was whisked away and the main course (fried chicken) replaced it.  Wine appeared and splashed into our glasses.  If one wine glass became empty it was spirited away.  No one was game to let go of the stems!

We were in the odd position of some fast eaters already being onto their fruit salad desserts while others were still finishing their soup or trying to get some more wine.

This may not sound so funny in writing, but it had us all in fits of laughter and requests that I post it on today’s blog as, ahem, an entrée.

We all agreed the hotel staff were in urgent need of customer relations training, which is a shame as the hotel itself is just superb.  The foyer was grand and we all had beautifully appointed rooms with tiles and mosaics on the walls depicting Augusta Emerita (as the city used to be called 2000 years ago) in its Roman heyday.

Day Ten of our Iberian adventure was spent for the artists in and around Plaza España (see photo below of today’s artwork on display).  The others explored the Roman bridge and the Moorish fortress, built after the Visigoths were expelled (hope you’re keeping up here)!

Then it was off in our trusty chariot, via Mérida’s aqueduct, to Jerez de los Cabelleros for a lovely light lunch with vistas over the Spanish countryside.

Monsaraz in the Alentejo, just across the border back in Portugal, is our base for the next four nights.  More about this whitewashed village in tomorrow’s blog.