We woke up in Casar de Caceres and made ourselves a lumpy porridge breakfast and coffee, taking advantage of the late 9am throw out time! We were the last to leave and arrived at the pretty village bus station to take the 9:20 bus back in to Caceres (1 euro 50 and about 10 minutes ride.) Back in Caceres we researched bus and train prices and times for our trip to Merida today, and our trip back to Madrid next week. The prices and times were similar on bus or train so we opted for the train, about 6 euros to Merida (1 hour) and 29 euros to Madrid (4.5 hours.) The olds got a 40% discount on that with their Spanish targetas, so we bought our tickets for our trip back to Merida today, chasing the sun, and our travels next Monday ready for our flight home to Birmingham from Madrid.

We arrived in Merida. We had read there was a municipal albergue for just 8euros a bed but on our way a fellow pilgrim informed us that there were just top bunks left so decided to head to a cafe and get on booking.com to treat ourselves to a cheap hotel instead, opting for the cheapest (48euros) We googled mapped our way there, passing Calle John Lennon!

The hotel was basic. A noisy school trip appeared to have taken over the first floor but we were put on the second floor. 3 single beds and a balcony, the doors able to open only if the 3^rd (camp) bed was shifted in to the room a little. But we were tired and happy to be in a private room. We all took to our beds and read for a while.

In the evening we headed out to find some food and came up on a little Chinese restaurant. Glad for a change from our usual home-cooked pasta and rice creations, or typical pilgrim menus, we ordered the feast for 3 and were pleasantly surprised to receive a decent array of oriental delights and wine for just 9 euros a head. Full,happy and ready for bed we rolled down through the winding streets to our room. We had not seen a lot of Merida but decided we would take a slow stroll out tomorrow and take in the sights.