Cáceres

Caceres deserves your time. The old town was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986 for its extraordinary blend of Roman, Moorish, Gothic, Renaissance, and Plateresque architecture, and it's considered the third best-preserved medieval centre in Europe after Prague and Tallinn. Go slow through it.

The camino enters through the Arco del Cristo, a 1st-century Roman gate and one of the few surviving openings in the original wall. Just uphill from the gate is the Casa/Museo Arabe, which offers a glimpse of domestic life for a wealthy Muslim family in the 12th century.

The first plaza you reach is the Plaza de San Jorge. The baroque church on the opposite end is the Iglesia de San Francisco Javier, commonly called the Iglesia de la Preciosa Sangre (Precious Blood), built by the Jesuits in the 18th century. Its tower can be climbed for commanding views over the rooftops.

From the Plaza de San Jorge the camino veers right, passing through a series of interconnected plazas to reach the Concatedral de Santa Maria. Built between the 15th and 16th centuries, it shares cathedral status with the one in Coria. If you don't make it inside, at least rub the toes of the bronze statue outside -- they belong to San Pedro de Alcantara, and their shine is a testament to the local belief that rubbing them brings good fortune in love.

The Palacio de los Golfines de Abajo sits nearby, a 15th-century Gothic fortress-palace where the Catholic Monarchs stayed when visiting the city. It functioned as the Golfin family's private residence for 500 years before reopening as a museum in 2015.

At this point, the Plaza Mayor is due west -- take the road to your left and through the archway. The plaza is lined with restaurants and overlooked by several medieval towers, the most prominent being the 12th-century Torre del Bujaco, a 25 m Arab-built watchtower on reused Roman ashlars that has become the city's symbol. Around 30 towers from the Islamic period still stand within the walls.

The camino follows a different path from the Concatedral, to the right, making a wide loop around the old town to pass the Iglesia de Santiago de los Caballeros, a 14th-century church built over an earlier 12th-century structure. The walled old town is encircled by 1,174 m of 12th-century Almohad walls -- compact enough to see in an afternoon, dense enough to reward a full day.

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