Experience the best of Cáceres

Cáceres sits in the dry, open country of Extremadura in western Spain, and its walled old quarter is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Europe. Stone towers, noble palaces and churches from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries stand around the Plaza de Santa María, with its concathedral, and the Arco de la Estrella leads in from the main square. White storks nest on many of the towers, and the whole district is listed by UNESCO.

The Museum of Cáceres is built in a palace over a cistern left by the Moors. Trujillo, a hill town of conquistadors' palaces, lies about 45 kilometres to the east, and Mérida, with its Roman theatre and aqueduct, is to the south. Monfragüe National Park, with colonies of black and griffon vultures in a river gorge, is north-east.

Torta del Casar, a soft sheep's-milk cheese eaten by cutting off the top and scooping it out with a spoon, and the cured ham of black Iberian pigs raised on the oak pastures are Extremadura's gifts to the table. Summers are very hot and winters cold. Spring brings green fields and wildflowers to the oak dehesas around the city.