Follow Your Arrow

Dana, my traveling, buddy, and I left Madrid yesterday on an afternoon train for Zaragosa. After a rather hectic spin through Atocha station, it was a smooth and easy 90 minute ride to Zaragoza.

Why Zaragoza? I asked my friend, Chat GPT, to recommend a small city in northern Spain that is: not over-touristed, authentically Spanish, known for its cultural and historical richness, and offering good food and wine. Voila – Zaragoza! it seems that AI got this right.

After settling into our hotel yesterday we strolled through the streets of the old town, finally finding our way to the area known as El Tubo, a meandering collection of alleys filled with tapas bars. We missed lunch and were too early for dinner, so once again we pieced together some Spanish small bites to serve as a meal: a slice of Tortilla Espanol (a potato and onion omelette), anchovies with tomato jam on bread (not to our tastes), croquettes and tomato salad. This, paired with a local white wine for Dana and a local red for me was sufficient. And the added benefit of mixing with other guests in the bar made it all the more worthwhile.

Fortified with tapas, wine and a scoop of gelato for me, we wandered into the Plaza Pilar where the indigo sky illuminated the magnificent architecture spanning a few centuries.

Today, we joined a walking tour, led by Pablo, a very knowledgeable and charming guide. It was more of a “standing” than a “walking” tour because we did not cover much ground. But as we stood in plazas and in front of churches and Roman ruins, I learned a lot about the history of Zaragoza. The city was named for Caesar Augustus, and if you say this aloud, you might hear the resonance of “Zaragoza”. Who knew? In 1973 when the city was excavating for a parking garage, they discovered the remains of a Roman-built coliseum. Although the city knows its heritage, this coliseum was a surprise nonetheless.

It’s happy hour again in Zaragoza and eager to taste the local offerings once more.