La Casa del Mitreo was constructed in the first century AD and restored in the 1960s. The house has a lovely patio and Mosaico Cosmogónico, representing elements of nature. See below
This was a large Roman house belonging to an important family. Remains related to the cult of Mitra were found here. The house consists of three peristyles or courtyards with columns around which the residence is organised. The rooms are decorated with high quality mosaics, such as the one above, and mural paintings.
The zone of Morerías was excavated in the 1990s. My photo does not really do it justice. If you look at google images you will get a better impression of how it occupies the whole zone below the grey square building on the extreme right, this houses municipal offices and is suspended on stilts. Amazing! How could you be bored working there? Nearly as much fun as West Berkshire Museum where I work in the old cloth hall!
The remains comprise parts of the walls and houses in the barrio Morerías. We see rooms, patios, wells and parts of the heating system.
Our last stop is the Crypt of Santa Eulalia in the church of the same name. This is an important site in terms of early Christianity in the area. It appears to be the first Christian temple in the peninsula built after peace was made by Emperor Constantine. The temple was a martyr to poor Eulalia who was martyred as a child just like Saint Pancras, see my post http://carrying-on-as-best-i-can.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/st-pancras-old-church.html.
Eulalia was a devout Christian born in the late second century. When she was about thirteen, her mother sequestered her in the countryside in AD 304 because all citizens were required to avow faith in the Roman Gods. Eulalia, clearly feisty, ran away to the law court of the governor Dacian at Emerita, professed herself a Christian, insulted the pagan gods and emperor Maximian, and challenged the authorities to martyr her. The judge's attempts at flattery and bribery failed. She was thus executed in a prolonged and painful way.
Santa Eulalia's place of death became a place of pilgimage at the dawn of the Middle Ages and continues to be an important Christinan site until this day. Between the first and third centuries Roman houses existed on the site. In the fourth century these were abandoned and the Christian necropolis was built in memory of Eulalia in the fifth century. There has been a church on the site ever since. A gothic altar persists, it was somehow spared demolition, though the rest of the current church was built in the eighteenth century. It is not open when we visit but is said to have beautiful chapels, as well as the old altar.
The crypt was excavated in the 1990s. Roman and Visigoth remains were found as well as the tomb of Eulalia.
The tomb is shown lit up in the back ground.
The view from the tomb.
Soon we are back on the train. The first part of the journey takes three hours and is slow and restful.
Spanish trains are a delight. Quiet and comfortable. It is just a pity they don't have more routes; and wifi. They are also extremely cheap and our over 60s card cost just six euros for the year. You can buy them at the station in one minute but need your passport.
We change at Puertollena to a big link train which is going to Madrid. It takes only fifteen minutes to get to Ciudad Real. A culture shock awaits!
We enter a large station and find our selves in the modern suburbs of a dark metropilis and get a bit lost. Our lovely host Carlos comes to rescue us and soon we are ensconsed in his warm and spacious apartment.
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