A tentative outline of the conference program:

The registration desk will be open on Monday 6th September from 18:00.

The official opening reception will be held at about 21:00 in the old Town Hall of Badajoz, at the “Plaza Alta” (location yet to be confirmed).

No talks will be scheduled for Wednesday September, 8, since it is the day of Extremadura, a suitable day to go sightseeing. The Organization has scheduled the conference excursion for this day: guided tour of the city of Cáceres (World Heritage City). As the registration fee covers its cost, all participants (and accompanying persons) are invited to join in.

Conference Dinner: Thursday September, 9, 2010. Tickets for the conference dinner will be available for purchase at the conference office. Details will be given in successive updates of our website.

Tourism in and from Badajoz:

Badajoz is a historic city in the Southwest of Spain, close to the Portuguese border. Its population is about 150,000, and the river Guadiana divides it into two parts. Summer is often very hot and followed by a long mild autumn.

The most documented history of Badajoz starts with its founding in the IX Century by Ibn Marwan, a Muslim prince who went into exile from Cordoba. Later, Badajoz became the capital of a small kingdom (one of those Taifa kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula). Nowadays, it still retains many vestiges of its Arabic past, among which it is worth mentioning the Alcazaba, considered one of the best and largest Arabic fortresses in Spain (Historic-Artistic Monument since 1931).

View http://www.turismobadajoz.es to find what to visit, where to eat, where to sleep, interactive planes, routes, services of interest, etc.

Badajoz can be the start of some interesting tourist routes in Extremadura. Two World Heritage Cities are within a relatively small distance from Badajoz: Merida, the ancient Emerita Augusta, just 55 km, and Caceres, with its imposing medieval town, 90 km far from Badajoz.

Regions as well known as the Valley of Jerte, the Vera, the Hurdes, etc. are somewhat further. Towards the Sierra de Huelva, about 70 Km away from Badajoz, the traveller finds Jerez de los Caballeros, one of the most important possessions that the Order of the Temple had in Spain, and a little further away, we find Fregenal de la Sierra.

Along this pleasant journey, the road runs through large open woodlands of holm oaks and cork oaks, where herds of  Iberian pigs graze peacefully. You can stop at any of the villages of the route and savour one of the best products from Extremadura, acorn fed Iberian ham.

                                     

 

 

 

In Badajoz, it is quite usual to cross the frontier (“la Raya”) with Portugal,  since about 15 Km away from Badajoz, on the way to Lisbon, we can find Elvas, a small beautiful town of the Portuguese Alentejo with which there exist constant trade and cultural exchanges.

However, there are other equally attractive possibilities for crossing “la Raya”, such as going north towards Valencia de Alcantara (80 Km far from Badajoz) and crossing the border there to head for the walled city of Marvao. We can also go a little further south, from Olivenza (25 Km far from Badajoz), the beautiful city that Godoy claimed to Portugal in the early nineteenth century as a punishment for its support to England (War of the Oranges). From the road you can admire the Alqueva dam, the largest water reservoir in Europe, and finish this tour in Monsaraz (Portugal), delightful medieval town, perfectly preserved, where one can further explore the Alentejo cuisine.