The pigs are already eating acorns in the pasture of Extremadura. They look for food at their leisure in the Cornalvo natural park, 10 kilometers from Mérida. They are fenced, of course, and the farms have owners, but the trails that cross them are public and you can walk along them (they are part of one of the nine existing hiking routes). Groups of schoolchildren and families from the area come to see how the sparrows gain up to a kilo a day, say those who make hams from them. There are also tourists who are sent by the Mérida safari, a personal recommendation from Daniel de Lamo, its director, who encourages them to approach on their own: no guide is needed for this safari. I like the pasture, it is not known that much (nor is Extremadura). The landscape has its own: the intense green of the grass, also food for the pigs; the darker green of the holm oaks and cork oaks; the black hair of the animals, that do not stop, that travel 10 kilometers a day. The excursion to this savannah is worth it – even if it rains (see photo below) – it complements the long-awaited visits to the amphitheater or the Roman theater of Mérida.
Inside the hostel
“Let’s go to tourism to have coffee”
The Mérida parador is located in a classicist baroque convent, which was built in 1726 on an old Visigoth basilica, which in turn was built on the old Roman praetorium. It is in the center of this World Heritage city: the Roman theater is a 10-minute walk away. Daniel de Lamo, the director of the establishment, says that the people of Emeritus refer to it as “tourism, let’s go to tourism to have a coffee”, a legacy from when they were known as Paradores de Turismo.
triumphal entry
Two jambs and a lintel from the Roman period decorate the access that connects the museum-shaped Garden of Antiquities, where you can see vestiges from different periods of Emeritus history (Visigothic, Mudejar and Roman), and the interior of the inn, where the cloister is located, stage for plays in the context of the Mérida International Classical Theater Festival and which has Roman columns. In spring and summer, the Antiquities Garden, the convent’s former orchard, is transformed into a highly sought-after terrace.
The fireplace lights up
This room is an extension of the cafeteria for the guests staying there. The so-called Vía de la Plata parador along the Roman road that linked Mérida with Astorga consists of seven other rooms for celebrations. Many Emerituses remind De Lamo that they got married, had their communion or baptism party in this space that is very integrated into the city. The work that decorates the space is by the architect, painter and sculptor from Oviedo Joaquín Vaquero Palacios.
A sample of Extremadura
A tray of 100% acorn folded loin (left), which is cured with butter and garlic. The marked grain in the middle is the butter that remains when the spine is folded during its curing. It is a sausage that is difficult to find outside the region. The 100% acorn-fed loin is also a very local sausage. It is already cured with paprika. The restaurant also serves cows from the native retinta breed, corderex (lamb from Extremadura) and garden products.
Two meters of pleasure
One of the 82 rooms that make up the parador, which receives 35% of international clients. “The English move around a lot,” says De Lamo. “Fly and drive”: They fly to a Spanish airport, rent a car and stay at the parador. French and Portuguese also arrive. The hotel has a gym and sauna. In summer, swimming pool.
Anterior
Following
There are pork products in the parador and as unknown to some as the pasture itself. De Lamo, who likes to talk about food, recommends the folded acorn-fed loin (the meat loaf is bathed in lard before being folded for curing) or the Iberian presa loin. There are more animals on the menu. The native cow retinta, the corderex (lamb from Extremadura) or the eggs of the Extremadura blue hen, which complement the tomato soup. “Of course people from Mérida come to eat at the parador. There is very good gastronomy in this land,” says De Lamo, a Valencian. Those who do not try meat have harvested mushrooms, garden products or spreadable cheeses from Extremadura.
The director knows what is not known and that is why he recommends the Iberian pluma candied at 70 degrees and finished with oak charcoal, and if he is asked about an outdoor activity, for a walk, he pulls out the map of Cornalvo. “I have it very kicked. Nature is not valued in this area,” he laments, but at the same time he is happy for the feeling of discovery that those who pay attention to him will experience. When visitors plan a trip to Mérida, they do so motivated by what he calls “the monumental value of the city,” and it makes sense, since the Roman theater was built two thousand years ago and is still standing: in summer it hosts classic plays. and concerts, with admission; the rest of the time it is filled with visitors and accompanying guides. But if you take the car – there is no parking problem on the way back, the parador’s parking has plenty of spaces -, you reach the Roman Cornalvo dam in 15 minutes, from where a circular route begins to skirt the reservoir that supplied of water to Augusta Emerita (today it does so to the surrounding towns).
Activities for everyone in a natural environment
Cultural visits, sustainable tourism, revitalization of the area…
How to get the most out of the area in which the hotel is located
Mercedes Sánchez, the park’s environmental technician, says that cattle and cork are the two major uses of the pasture. The bark of the cork oak is removed every nine years, which is transformed into cork for stoppers and insulation. Pigs eat between 10 and 15 kilos of acorns a day. Cows and sheep graze all year round. A herd of thoroughbred horses scampers and chews their cud. Look at that mare, points out Raúl Alcantud, the park guard: “Her ears are back, she’s angry.” All school farm animals, but in their place.
And it is not only what is seen in the pasture, an ecosystem from which the scrub has been removed to make way for extensive livestock farming; “It’s also what it feels like,” says Alcantud. You can smell the aromatic plants, points out the sensory watchman, and you can hear the water of the Muelas stream as it passes between the granite rocks of the Rugidero berrocal in times of abundant rain. “Cornalvo is a traditional recreation area. 80% of those who come will be from Mérida,” says Sánchez. The theater does not compete with them, he says, on the contrary, it attracts visitors and some come to the park. Nobody wants crowds, but neither does it want to go unnoticed. “More use should be made of it,” he claims.
Alberto, Lola and Javier recommend
From the Roman bridge, if you follow the course of the Guadiana River upwards, a path emerges that puts you in the middle of nature in a 15-minute walk. One of the attractions of the walk is seeing the stork nests in an old brick factory.
Alberto Paredes
Events Coordinator 22 years in Paradores
My town, Almendralejo, land of wine. On the ground floor of the bullring there is a winery. We have the Museum of Wine Sciences. A lot of cava is produced. And don’t forget to visit the Carolina Coronado theater, which is named after this poetess of Romanticism.
Lola Recio
Waitress 8 years in Paradores
Six kilometers from the parador is the Proserpina reservoir, a swamp from Roman times that people call the beach of Mérida. You can also go in autumn. People walk along it, it is a more pleasant route, with the pasture around it. It takes an hour.
Javier Pacheco
Maintenance Manager 12 years in Paradores
Mérida has been transformed, in case some readers have already visited it, or in case Cornalvo’s demand for a second visit is not enough for them. Streets in the center have been pedestrianized, more sports are done along the banks of the Guadiana, the cultural offer has grown, say those who live there. Everyone talks about the theater festival and the artists who perform at the Stone and Music festival and the flamenco festival. It is the capital of a region after all, it has 59,461 inhabitants. And it has one of the oldest paradores in Spain, inaugurated in 1933, just when the first plays were performed in the Roman theater of Mérida.
It is visited all year round, says tourist guide Sandra Hidalgo. “Seasonality has decreased,” he says. Since Covid forced Spaniards to travel to Extremadura instead of Bangkok, word has spread. Some talk about the excitement of watching a play outdoors at night, others say that you can eat well without leaving your wallet behind, there are those who are petrified by the columns of the temple of Diana, by the circus, by the bridge. Roman, with the arch of Trajan, which is next to the inn; There will be those who tell about the pigs in Cornalvo.
The ham is cut from the leg and immediately at the parador, which serves it with 100% acorn from the DO Dehesa de Extremadura. Accompanied by a Trujillo retort, it is a dream dinner in the cafeteria, the cupboard of the old convent, where a living room atmosphere is generated: that is what these hotels have. If you want to delve deeper into the world of ham now that Christmas baskets are starting to be delivered, just walk 300 meters from the inn to the Sierra Las Navas ham shop. Manuel Cárdenas, a master cutter, takes care of the knife moments before extending his hand. He won’t let go of it all the time. Contrary to what has always been said, that it is better to start the ham from the stifle (with the hoof facing down) so that the mace continues to cure, this carver advocates opening the thick and juicy part from the beginning. “Eat the best first and more if you are celebrating something. If you are going to brag, brag about what is good,” he argues irrefutably.
There is always some connoisseur at Christmas dinners who claims that the best ham is white, and they are right according to Cárdenas, since the fat is what provides all the flavor. To ensure that the profile of the ham remains straight and “the dreaded wave or boat does not appear, a lace is required”, with which to separate the meat from the bone before cutting a thin slice twice the size of the blade, suitable for a child. eight years old and for an 80-year-old grandfather. They are hams from animals slaughtered a year ago. The pigs that are fed today in Cornalvo still have acorns left until March.
Extremadura, in 7 inns
CREDITS:
Writing and script: Mariano Godson
Editorial coordination: Francis Pacha
Photograph: Jorge Armestar
Development: Rodolfo Mata
Design: Juan Sanchez
Design coordination: Adolfo Domenech
The literary news analyzed by the best critics in our weekly newsletter
Receipt
