Zaragoza, like many other Spanish cities, likes to build high density flats everywhere. The narrow roads overlooked by countless balconies leave an impression of claustrophobia, which is made all the worse as you ascend to your flat up a dark staircase. The lack of natural light makes practical sense, as the Spanish want to keep out as much heat as possible, but the roads are another matter.
At any given time half of the driving population of Spain will be looking for a parking space, reference here. They will drive round and round, scanning each alley for any crevice they can fit into. It has been suggested that this activity facilitates social cohesion as it requires you to repeatedly ask anyone sitting near a car, “te vas?” (Are you leaving?), and thus striking up a conversation.
The one downside to this though is that these streets can only fit a single car, so as you discuss with your neighbour about their schedule another car will be beeping you from behind for you to move; however, do you? What if they also want that space!
Once we were finally parked we came across Aljafería Palace by chance, just round the corner. #ChanceLife
In all honesty we thought it was a bit rubbish, which was probably made worse by the surrounding area being a bit dingy. With that said, it is a cracking example of Arab architecture in the 11th century for this area, see here. We did not know that at the time so just shat all over it and moved on — A lesson in reading up about a location before you go.
As we meandered towards the city centre christmas was in full swing and we reached a christmas market at Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar. I don’t know if I have the wrong angle but none of my pictures look anything like online.
One noob mistake is to confuse the church above for the Cathedral of the Savior of Zaragoza. I wish I could tell you why they built two cathedrals right next to each other, but we were only there for the day and I haven’t read the wiki so here are my theories:
We wandered in for free expecting it to be nothing but tourists only to find a mass in full swing. Most places have a special time for tourists and worshipers but here it was a free for all. The contrast between the insta-lifers and the eternal soul searching just seemed off — With that said, got some sick pics bro!
In all serious though this will have to be addressed at some point or maybe they like the community spirit, don’t know.
At the end of the day we walk all round the city and were surprised to see how many shops there were, it was like Oxford street in London, huge. We finally rested in a “Scottish Pub” to try and watch the football.
