Zaragoza

Okay, I admit, the headline is a bit exaggerated. You can't really call the city in the middle of the parched Sierra paradisiacal. But the great Ebro River at least saves it from total inferno. Whatever the Romans were thinking when they decided to build a city between Madrid, Barcelona, and the Pyrenees, they did a good job.

The Basilicia Pilar, along with the Basílica Seo (in the background), is one of the landmarks of Zaragoza. The whole city has features from all periods of government and rule: Roman remains, Baroque churches, bombs from the time of the Civil War, but what I find particularly beautiful are the Muslim elements from when the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by the "Musulmanos". The Aljaferia is said to be filled with Moorish style on the inside. Unfortunately, I was there during the somewhat extended siesta, so no photo from the inside.

I really like the city, it's authentic, not overcrowded, lots of Latin Americans, and people just speak Spanish, wonderful! But in many corners, it's very deserted, you can still feel the effects of the economic crisis, as I experienced during my walk through the old Expo site from 2008:

But there's enough space for me to goof around unnoticed:

I'm staying with Cristian, he's totally relaxed but not in a lazy way. He works a lot in his three physiotherapy clinics, but we do something on one day. Of course, we eat tapas, what else. Zaragoza is said to have the best food in Spain. I just wonder where that comes from.

Now I've been on the road for almost 1.5 months and sometimes I can just do nothing on the rooftop terrace - at least for a while, crazy. But the peace won't last long, I have to spontaneously move to a friend of Cristian's for the last night because he's going on vacation at short notice. Yes, Spaniards. In the end, the little night walk wasn't so bad and I had a super fun last night conversation with Olga!

Now it's time to get out of the heat, I'm trying my luck on the Atlantic coast. Where exactly, you'll find out next time 😁✌️