... and where are we going: Zaragoza

Zaragoza is the capital city of Aragon. Situated on the river Ebro in a valley with different landscapes; from desert to forest, meadows and mountains.

The population of Zaragoza is about 700,000 making the 5th largest city in Spain. The city is famous for its folklore, a renowned local gastronomy and its main landmark; the Basílica del Pilar.

The city started as a Celtiberian village, eventually becoming the roman Caesaraugusta. Signs of the 2,000 years old city’s founding, like the city’s Forum, Thermal Baths, the River Port or the Great Theatreare are still visible and can be visited as archaeological remains which reflect the splendour of the city as it was during the Roman Empire.

By 714 Arabs took control of the city and rejected an invasion attempt from Charlemagne. In 1118 the Aragonnese conquered the city and became the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon.

During the Napoleonic wars, Zaragoza suffered two famous sieges from Napoleon’s army, surrendering the city only after some 50,000 defenders had died. We'll try not to keep this in mind while going through France. It was a long time ago after all.

The first century legend of Virgin Mary appearing to St James on a pillar by the Ebro river during the dawn of Christianity in Spain, was commemorated by the construction of a chapel that developed into the current 1681 Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar which is currently the most iconic building of the city.


Other main sights of the city include La Seo cathedral, the Aljafería Moorish palace-castle and other palaces from the 16th century. Worth visiting too are the Stone Bridge with views over the river Ebro, the Mercado Central, a marketplace since Middle Ages and the Primo de Rivera Park with views over the city.

A popular pastime in Zaragoza is the enjoyment of tapas or “tapeo” in bars in and around the old city. There are so many bars and so many different and equally tempting tapas in each of them that it becomes difficult to choose which of these pieces or gastronomic art to taste. Shame we wont be able to take a few for the journey, not that in France we'll be eating any badly anyway.

The event, called "Las Fiestas del Pilar", celebrated from the 12th of October, is a major 9 days popular festival with all kinds of acts: from the vastly attended opening speech to the final massive fireworks display over the Ebro, there are bands, dances, procession of gigantes y cabezudos (carnival figures), concerts, exhibitions, and the famous Ofrenda de Flores (Flower offering) to the virgin, when an enormous cloak is made of the flowers brought in parade by thousand of people from all around the world in traditional folklore customs.

In 2008 Zaragoza hosted the International Exposition Expo 2008 with the theme of "Water and Sustainable Development". The Water Tower, the Spanish and Aragon pavilions and Zaha Hadid's Bridge Pavilion are the most emblematic buildings that were constructed for the event.

After Expo2008, Zaragoza will host "Flowers Expo", in 2014 and it is a candidate to be European Capital of Culture in 2016. Zaragoza wants to be a candidate city for the Winter Olympic Games 2022. Mountain and snow sports, are popular thanks to the nearby Pyrenees, where many of Spain's best ski resorts are located.

The city benefits of a strategically geographical location since constitutes a crossroads between Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao and Toulouse (France), with important industries as the Opel (Vauxhal) car factory and the Plaza logistics platform as well as important transport links like the AVE high speed rail or the airport, which consolidates the city as a communications hub.