Spain, Day 4

On the ride back from Coca yesterday, I noticed el Museo de las Villas Romanas.  It sounded interesting, so I looked it up last night and decided to visit today.

I miss my light, comfortable bike.  Even my heavier bike is lighter than the one I rode today and yesterday.  However, any bike is better than no bike, even if my butt does hurt a lot after a mere 22 km today.  Probably more than anyone wanted to know.  Sorry.

The museum centers around an actual archaeological site.  Giant Quonset-type roofs cover a semi-enclosed pavilion over the foundations of a Roman villa.  The floors are mosaic, in various degrees of preservation.  I liked this one from one of the baths.

This one is the showpiece.  It depicts Pegasus, without his wings, with a bunch of nymphs.  The text had some more information about the myth, but my Spanish wasn’t up to the task.

Before the actual ruins, there is an interpretive center designed to orient the viewer to Roman culture.  I watched the introductory video and realized that I rely on seeing people’s faces when they speak to understand Spanish.  I do speak maps with arrows, though, and I gather that the Romans did fine here in Spain until they were overrun by, you guessed it, Goths, Visigoths, and Vandals.

I did better on the reading comprehension.  Much like ours, Roman society had the 1 percent at the top with all the wealth and power and then everyone else.  The more things change…