Zaragoza

I spent almost all of the weekend at Zaragoza, leaving Friday morning and returning Sunday evening. The train there was a nice express, two hours total. The train back was another story. It was a local, stopping at more than five stations (I slept through the rest). That train looked like it had been commissioned in the late 60s, and was well past its prime (full of character).

Friday started out sleepily, with fog blanketing most of the city. By 1 o'clock the fog had lifted, leaving a slight haze over the city. The old city stands where the Roman forum once stood. There is a museum in front of the Cathedral dedicated to the ruins of the Roman Forum. Below the plaza is an excavated portion of walls and corridors, with an accompanying movie that was entirely in Spanish. The Cathedral was once a Mosque, and like many others, was converted to a Catholic house of God after the Reconquest of Spain transferred power from the Moors to the Spanish. The Cathedral is filled with ten side chapels, each of which had its own unique and opulent full height entry. I snuck in a few photos, but couldn't get a good shot of these entry ways.

The focus of the plaza is the Basilica del Pilar. It's built on the site of a appearance by the Virgin Mary in the 1st century. Various shrines were built around the pilar on which Mary appeared. No mater what ended up happening to the surrounding structures, the pilar survived. The current church was started around 1675, and is immense. About 15 major spires rise from the church, joined by many other smaller ones. From the exterior, from the right angle, the many mosaic covered domes almost resembles St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow (not for long).

The rest of the city was filled with many small surprises. An excavated Roman theater sits within the urban fabric, next to one of the many small, intimate squares that dot the old city. The IberCaja Bank sponsors a few free art museums throughout the city, and the Museum of Zaragoza has an impressive collection of Goya's paintings, including a number of his dream (or nightmarish) illustrations. This museum ended up being the most expensive at three euro (after student discount).

Zaragoza held the 2008 World Expo, the permanant installations of which were a definate point of interest. The hostel had bike rentals available for one euro an hour. The river, which happened to be at a very high flood stage, had a bike trail and river walk on either side. Expo instalations extend the city north of the River Ebro. The Expo is long over, however, and the future plans for the buildings have yet to go into effect. The 'Disney World on an off day' feel was prevalent, but so were the photo ops.

Sunday brought with it a 2:45 train and a last chance to catch up on sights (the Zaragoza Museum with Goya). The final visit of the trip was to the Palacio de la Aljaferia. The palace started as a Moorish outpost, a fortress with interior courtyards and a small mosque (a mini Alhambra). Now it's the seat of government for Aragon (the state that Zaragoza is in).

I highly recommend a trip out there, and three days seemed sufficient. There are enough attractions to occupy someone for a week if need be. There were friendly people at the hostel, american girls from Madrid and two frenchies from Lille. The Madrid girls took a bus, and the frenchies took a plane. I slept fine on the train.