Please go and visit Zaragoza, that’s “Thara – Gotha” by the way, that’s how they like it to be said, because although they are in the region of “Aragon” therefore “Aragonese” the do actually speak the Castillian language quite beautifully, and to a greater extent prefer to keep it that way, they are not militant about there own regional dialect, as the Catalans are next door, and I find that they really appreciate the effort by any visitors to use the northern Castillian way of speaking, with full emphasis on things like “C” (theh) and “Z” (theta) and also the stronger sounding “Khh” of the letter “J” or “Jota”, and I particularly like the little accent that many native Zaragozanos have, I found it to be better/easier on my ears than the Catalan accent, and many Madrid ones too, which I find just a little too harsh for my liking.
But anyway, I just got back from another couple of weeks over there, in the region of Aragon, in the Capital of “ZARAGOZA” and I must say that I am intensely pleased/happy/glad/overjoyed and thoroughly satisfied that I have been to this beautiful part of España this year, the city is most definitely high up on my list of MUST-GO-AND-SEE options, and I would whole heartedly recommend this city to anyone who is looking for a nice little break from all the usual places, and in particular to get away fro all the usual problems that plague both Madrid and Barcelona, as this City is still pretty much free of many & most of the problems that those two have got in common, and I found it most refreshing indeed not to find hoards of manteros or pickpockets or prostitutes or over the top street entertainers all over the place drawing even more hoards of spectators, thus blocking huge portions of public footpath, no in fact everywhere I went it was delightfully clear of all of the usual things (and annoyances) that you would usually find in the other big cities.
This city is without a Metro system as yet, although the Aragon government has been in talks about installing a limited one, and/or perhaps reinstating the old “Tramvia” system, but the buses are great, every part of the city is covered by a multitude of buses of various numbers & configurations, they are plentiful, and extremely fast I must say, I never had to wait more than about three mins for the next one to come along, and went from one part of the city to the other in no more than about 15 mins in the afternoon, they are air conditioned, clean, and not overcrowded, and the flat rate fare is 75 centimos, that’s for one stop or a dozen stops or to the end of the line.
The newly built and now fully functioning Renfe station is at/and called “Delicias” and is dream come true, it handles traffic to & from Sevilla/Madrid/Zaragoza/Leida/Barcelona – Sants, and many other places, it handles the Talgo’s and the AVE’s as well as other slower types, and I was suitably impressed with the place, and I had the most delicious Café con leche in the cafeteria there.
Zaragoza Airport is a bit on the small side for my liking, going in was okay, but getting out was a bugger, a real headache, simply because the departure lounge is far too damn small, and you just cannot squeeze 350 people into a room that is designed for about 150, I was not happy at that point, but otherwise it’s an okay Airport, but needs some radical expansion badly, and Ryan air is an okay kind of service, no real problems there, no complaints from me, the flight was excellent going both ways, but of course, as with many other Airlines now, there is only “paid for” food & drink provided, if ordered in advance, but for an Air fare of just £14.99 + Tax each way I was not about to complain, so I took a drink and a couple of cereal bars with me each way.
The “Air Bus” you catch is right outside the terminal building, it goes right to the centre of the city in about 20 mins, and stops in Paseo de Pamplona, which is about a 10 minute walk from the plaza de España, for which you need to turn into and walk along the wonderful Paseo de la Independencia, along which there are fabulous shops & restaurantes/Cafeterias/Bars et cetera, and many side streets packed full of equally exciting shops & eating/drinking places.
This place is fabulous for a shopping (or retail therapy) type of holiday, I was in shopping heaven, and the prices have got to be some of the best that I have seen in a long time, needless to say I spent my hard earned like a man possessed, I spent over a grand on myself during my two and a half weeks in Madrid in June, but didn’t get as much for my money, this time I spent about 300 less, but got plenty more, so once again I was well pleased, and besides, I was not really out for any big bargains in particular, I just like window shopping, and the therapy of the shopping in itself is of greater value to me than the actual spending, I mean it was great to be able to get up late, go shopping, eat a decent lunch, take my goods back to the Hotel, have a siesta for a couple of hours, have a shower, watch some TV for a while, check out the latest news, then go out to one of the various “Bufet Libres” of which I found two really good ones, and I stuffed my face to silly proportions with plates full of Calamari’s and a myriad of fine foods, and every conceivable type of salad & vegetable for those who are into that, and I must say that I did get good value for money in at least two of the places that I ate at.
The places were like those in which you can get a plate, fill it up, go & eat it, go back & do it all over again, and a 3rd time if you can handle it, then the postres, my god, don’t remind me of what I consumed as far as the postres are concerned, if my Doctor knew what I have been chucking down my into my gullet over the last fortnight, he would literally shit thunder & lightning down my neck for the rest of this year, well the desserts/Postres were yummy, put it that way, so I just had to indulge my taste buds in a little ecstasy, besides I’ve been dieting like an anorexic for the last year, and was in dire need of good old fashioned “food–fix”, and so I had one, (and to hell with what the ‘quack’ says,) and what better place to go and get stuffed, other than the Amazing city of Zaragoza (Tharagotha), my god, what a place, it really took me by surprise, I mean, I went over to the palace of “Aljaferia” that’s pronounced as “Al–haffe–ria”, and I can tell you that I was just blown away by this place, you have just got to go and see this for yourself, it is only 3 euros for the guided tour around the palace, it is in Castillian Spanish (Castellano) but she was an exceptionally good guide, who spoke in such a way that I understood literally everything that she said, and man was I impressed, I really am going to go back to see that place again, and real soon, without letting on too much about it, I can say it was like seeing 3 places rolled into one, that is the Alhambra in Granada, the Alcazar in Sevilla, and La Mezquita (the Mosque) in Cordoba.
Then of course there is the awesome Basilica del “Pilar” which I entered and stood there looking gob-smacked for about an hour, this you have got to see, I’m not saying any more about it, and all the other phenomenal Churches, Cathedrals, and numerous other architectural bewilderments of breath taking proportions, you simply just have to go and see it all for your self, and the first & by far the best place to begin doing that is on top of either of the two tourist buses that go around and all over the city, (which start at the main bus stop at plaza del Pilar,) stopping at every major attraction, the ride on each of them lasts just over an hour, and for only 4 euros per ride, it was great, worth every penny/centimo, and I actually went round on them twice each over the space of the first few days, before setting off to explore for myself, and I did, I got to see some extremely interesting places, parks, churches, architecture, et cetera, and I thoroughly enjoyed walking around all over the city, hopping on & off of various busses, window shopping, and buying various bits & pieces here & there, as well of course making sure that I got to see the main attractions in Zaragoza as I went along, and a few not so main ones too, but equally interesting, I found some fascinating shops that I have not found during my time in either Madrid or Barcelona.
There is inevitably always at least one criticism that most people will have about a place that they visit, and my only real criticism of Zaragoza this time is this, and that is that I really found that there were far too many people smoking all over the place, in every place, and I mean everywhere, too many smoke filled Bars, Cafeterias, and Bars masquerading as Restaurantes, I found it all just a bit too much in some places, except those two Bufet Libre places that I mentioned, which were quite free from all that, but yes, sadly as with Madrid & Barcelona, they too have got an unusually high percentage of smokers, of all ages, and they too don’t seem to care too much about where they are, even at the food counter in some places, they still spark-up and blow it everywhere, and I have become increasingly uncomfortable with all that recently, but that is my only gripe at this time, apart from the fact that there are hoards of professional (dare I say it, Indian or Asian,female beggars), with or without a child in arms, going around begging, and generally pestering the tourists for money, which I found to be most annoying on one or two occasions in particular, and even in a branch of LiDL supermarket, one of the little so & so’s who had previously tapped me in town, saw me in there while she was shopping, and proceeded to start begging from me right there in the middle of the bloody shop, for god sakes, luckily for her I’m a gentleman, and didn’t give her the tongue lashing that she so deserved. But apart from those two little gripes, I really did thoroughly enjoy this city and all that it has got to offer the visitor.
If you want to know the name of the Bufet Libre that I went to, I lost the name of one, but it is so easy to find, it’s on the corner of Plaza del Pilar and Don Jaime I, and it’s the only one like it there, right opposite Plaza de La Seo, Monday to Friday it’s 9.95 euros + IVA to fill your belly, Saturday & Sunday it’s about 1.80 more (for some reason) but still very good value for money, the Calamari & Pa’ella are the beeezneeez.
The other place which is a “Bufet Libre” is in Paseo de la Santa Catalina, just off of Paseo “COSO” and very close to the Plaza de España, and it is called quite simply “Fresc co” and it has a better salad selection than the other place, but not such a good selection of Carnes y Pescados, but at 9.50 euros including IVA, free cold drink & several cups of coffee, and bowls of yoghurt Ice cream, it’s not bad at all, there are no hidden extras in the pricing strategy, it is just 9.50 euros and eat & drink all you can, and it is super clean, new, well staffed, properly run/managed, and I liked it, (and of course most importantly, Smoke free) well at least it was when I was in there.
So, there it is, the mighty Zaragoza, do try and go there one day soon, before it gets too cold, just for a shopping expedition if nothing else, and go to see the “Aljaferia palace”, if you’ve ever seen the Alcazar or La mezquita or the Alhambra, you’ll know what I mean.
My accommodation was okay, double room, 22 euros per night, shower, sink, 24 hour hot water, TV with remote, large bed with orthopaedic mattress, very décor, lovely tile work, an “elevator” no stairs to climb, room is inward facing, so pretty quite, and located 5 mins from Plaza de Epsaña, so very convenient. The owner Jose is a gentleman, and if you want the address & telephone, private message me, and I’ll send it over.
If it were not for the fact that I have already planed to be in Jerez for christmas, I would seriously consider going back to Zaragoza for another week or so, (para navidad), and I could easily get the ticket now for about £14.99 on Ryan Air, but I've been meaning to be in Cadiz for christmas for years now, and really want to achieve that, the one thing that puts me off, is the fact that it gets really cold in the north around christmas time, and Jerez will be much warmer, so it looks likely that I will stick to my plan of being there.
I hope you will see Zaragoza soon, it's a great place, you'll love it.
