“Heading west again as you pass through Valencia de Alcántara, leaving the last remaining Spanish villages behind, a jagged dorsal fin rises out of the surrounding green patches that cluster around courses of water that feed into the river. Like some sort of prehistoric Border Wall, this granite fence signals that the border is near…”
You cringe, close your eyes, gasp, and think of the worst. That truck can’t cross that bridge, it’s 2000 years old! But wait, it’s not turning back and is indeed crossing. Two millennia later, goods are still crossing the 71-meter (231-foot) high bridge that spans the Tagus river, just shy of what is now the…
Cascading waterfalls, lush carpets of green, cherry groves, mischievous otters and picture perfect swimming holes aren’t usually the first things that come to mind when you mention Extremadura, but that’s exactly what you’ll find up the Jerte Valley. From peaks as high as 2300 metres (7545 feet), centuries of gushing, spiralling water has carved out…
Let’s face it, summers are rather hot in Spain… but where can you escape the heat if sand, elbow-to-elbow towels and the built-up coasts don’t appeal? Go West! Trace the spine of the central mountain system as far and deep as you can get before you turn Portuguese and you’ll find the answer. In the…