Zaragoza
A friend told me that Zaragoza was very worth a visit, and she was right. This was the last stop on our trip through the Basque Country and Aragon. We returned our rental car on arrival, and traveled back to Barcelona on the high-speed Ave (hitting for the transportation cycle: plane-bus-car-train).
We stayed in an outstanding tourist apartment in a former convent in the center of the city. Our first night there we ate a great Andalusian meal at a nearby taberna owned by a friendly Malagueño.
We made several visits to the Plaza del Pilar, whose massive scale reminded me of the Christian Science Plaza in Boston. The monumental linear space is surrounded by noteworthy buildings and populated with an impressive assortment of public art and fountains. Anchored at one end by the cathedral La Seo and at the other by Roman wall remains, the plaza is dominated by the vast Basilica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar, with 4 towers – each 92m high – and too many domes to count.
Views of the Plaza del Pilar, from east to west: La Seo del Salvador, with beautiful mudéjar ornament on the exterior | One of several fountains | The onyx façade of the Museum of the Caesar Augustus Forum, with the Basilica del Pilar beyond | Views back to La Seo's tower | The vast Fuente de la Hispanidad marks the western end of the main plaza; beyond it is a smaller plaza bounded by a third church, the Roman ruins and the central food market.
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The Basilica Pilar sits between the plaza and the river. The top of one of its towers offers visitors panoramic views across the river and the city, and glimpses back to the plaza.
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We ventured beyond the old center to check out the city's largest park and the Expo 2008 site, home to a campus of contemporary buildings and an impressive bridge across the Ebro. The Ebro (Ebre, in Catalan) is the longest river entirely in Spain, with its source in Cantabria, in the northwest. Details from the 2008 Expo campus
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The Aljaferia Palace, now home to the Cortes de Aragon, the Aragonese parliament. Sadly, we didn't book ahead and weren't able to get inside when we visited on our last morning in Zaragoza.
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"Menos tele y más jugar en la plaza" – less TV and more playing outside.
