Is history your subject?  We head west to Extremadura, the harsh land from where came most of the famous Spanish explorers who opened the Americas to the world.  We first stop at the unforgettable Monastery of Guadalupe.  Then to Trujillo, the home of Pizzaro (photo above) who conquered the Inca Empire.  Next to Merida the capital of the Ancient Roman province of Lusitania and the site of the finest Roman ruins in Spain.  En route back to Madrid we stop for an overnight at a castle in Oropesa that commands a wide vista of this part of Spain.