It seems so long ago now, but I realized I hadn’t finished posting about our return trip from our last adventure to Portugal. After leaving our Monsanto, our last stop in Portugal, we still had 7 hours to drive home.
Our first stop was just across the border at the Roman Bridge of Alcántara, built in 106 BC.
The gorge of the Tagus River has made a natural border between Portugal and Spain for hundreds of years. This Roman bridge is the only access to cross the river for 50 kilometers. The sections closest to Spain have been destroyed to keep people out several times. The first time was in the 13th century, and the bridge remained broken for about two centuries. The second was in the middle of the 17th century, in the wars with Portugal. And the third was in the 19th century, in the Independence War of Spain and France.
It was a great place to get a few wiggles out on our drive home.
From there, we drove on to Carmona, not far from Sevilla, where we spent the night (because 7 hours is too many hours to drive in one day) in a 15th century palace home.
What we loved best about Carmona is the “Ruta Turística” that you can follow throughout the city.
These markers on the sidewalks and cobblestone roads take you for a lovely stroll through town hitting a variety of historical sites that you might otherwise miss (information about each site can be found on their website). The boys led the way as we blindly wandered. We counted 165 before we called it a day.
The most interesting spot was the Roman Necropolis (fancy word for cemetery).
We ended our time in Carmona at a cave restaurant for lunch before getting back on the road.
Little did we know that this would be our last time out of town for a while.
Adrift in Andalucía 
Love seeing you all out traveling the world. And all the Roman stuff. Here’s to those days again.
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