Look to this day
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence.
The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendour of achievement
Are but experiences of time.

For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision;
And today well-lived, makes
Yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well therefore to this day;
Such is the salutation to the ever-new dawn

Yesterday we explored Merida just a little.  We saved the big stuff for today but we enjoyed watching the world go by from behind a glass of something cool.

We went back to our hotel and bumped into Brendan and Carol, who invited us to dinner in the square.  We had every intention of joining them but our afternoon nap turned to sleep and the evening turned to morning.

We decided to stay an extra day and we decided to move into the municipal albergue.  As we were leaving the hotel we found Anna and Staff finishing breakfast.  We chatted and they walked with us into town and made plans to meet tomorrow at the next stop.  We greeted Annamika and Paul too as we were leaving and chatted our way across Merida’s ancient bridge.  We said goodbye at the Acalzaba… they went explore and we went to find breakfast.

The municipal albergue opened at 11… we chatted to two Italian pilgrims as we waited for the hospiderio to arrive.  6 euros gave us bottom bunks in this beautiful old building beside the river suurounded by the most amazing green space by the river. I did my washing and hung it to dry, tried to chat with a lovely korean lady called Sun… she spoke very little English and I have no Korean but we smiled as we hung our laundry… and I think we parted as friends. More pilgrims from Belgium arrived as we were leaving  to explore.

Where do we start… the amphitheatre or the museum or the aquaduct or the roman theatre or the temple of Diana or the roman bridge or the alcazara … So much to see in one day!  Merida is a World Heritage city and in ancient times was refered to as a mini rome… in short there is a lot here… I took one or two photos.

And of course there was the train.

We had lunch back in Plaza Espagna watching the world go by and the children run… chasing the white doves that flew around the square.

We walked and watched and watched and walked …  I linked arms with Maggie and we agreed that it really was a good day.

We’ve ambled our way back to the albergue along the river, stopping for an iced cafe con leche en route (Gerry they had pastel de nata but I am too full from lunch so I just looked and smiled and thought of you). The albergue is full… so many pilgrims!  It feels good to be amongst this joy… this camino spirit again.

Merida is a busy lively little town with a big history and if you are ever in the area you should rest a day or two and soak up the atmosphere.

We bumped into Guy and his wife (Dutch -French couple)… indeed we’re sleeping either side of them tonight in the albergue… they tell us the Bordeaux guys are here too.

All in all Saturday in Merida was what we needed… tomorrow we’re off to Aljucen… we’ve not booked a bed… we agreed that we’d  rather let the camino decide and the freedom makes me want to dance… just like my friend in the flatlands a few days ago.

Ps for a rest day we still managed to walk 14.2 km.