On the Espanol Road Again...

It´s another relaxing Sunday in Spain as families lazily stroll along the Plaza de Pillar, children happily chase the pigeons around, and people go to and from service at the Basillica de Nuestra Senora del Pilar. I´m in the city of Zaragoza. After phoning three hostels in Madrid that were full and I realized I should have booked earlier, and decided to make a detour to this very pleasant city instead. I can really practice my broken Spanish as very few locals speak English and most of the tourists seem domestic. I stayed in Barcelona longer than I had planned. For me, Barcelona is like a beautiful woman with a great personality. The more you know about her, the more you like her.

The old town of Zaragoza has a number of mudejar (moor) and baroque type churches with Roman ruins sprinkled around. The main church here is the Basillica de Nuestra Senora which is a massive 17th-century building at the heart of the city. People come here to pray and kiss piece of pillar believed to have been left here by the Virgin Mary to St. James. The city also has a number of fine graffiti dotted around. It´s fun just walking around and coming across them.


The spanish media have not put alot of attention to the recent foiled terrorist plane plot and most of the news have to do with the Israeli conflict and fires in Galica. I was actually surprised given the past terrorist bombings in Madrid. The Spanards I find are generally very positive people. Off to Madrid tomorrow, enjoy the rest of your weekend.