Adventures in Spanish 2013: Don Quijote to Gaudi Part 3 - Phoenicians, Romans and Medieval Monks

Throughout my blogs, I've tried to give everyone a taste of Spain as I experience it, rather than a day by day encounter of what I've done. Therefore, I've not included every place that I have visited nor every experience. This next blog is about 3 major places that we visited on our drive north to Barcelona.

Zaragoza - Overlooked but impressive

Driving into Zaragoza was an experience in guesswork and patience. Once again, our GPS let us down, our maps showed specific road numbers but not destinations and the road signs very confusing with the road names listed changing every sign. Hence we were uncertain of our exit, tired from a longish day of driving and worried about getting to our hotel before dark. Darkness came early this day due to heavy rain and storms. Finally, we decided we had ended up on a bypass and managed to turn around and head back to Zaragoza, took a punt on the road (luckily the right one) and found our destination before darkness claimed our ability to see street names. The next morning, we set off to explore and found a city with much more interest and history than we expected. Whilst we didn't have a lot of time for sightseeing, we did get in a visit to a museum and a quick walk by the river.

Situated on the Ebro river, it boats stunning sites like the Basilica del Pilar and the Aljaferia Palace (Moorish architecture). Our hotel was only a few blocks away from the Basilica. The cathedral of Zaragoza was built during the 3rd Century. There is a strong Roman and Moorish history and influence. As well, Zaragoza appears to have been a very important place during the Reconquest and Spanish Inquisitions. Popes, Kings and other important dignitaries have stayed there and Napoleon Bonaparte laid siege to it twice. Despite all this, Zaragoza doesn't get much mention in Spanish history lessons. I found it quite a fascinating place. However, as neither Gillian nor I took any photos, just google Zaragoza or Aljaferia Palace and you will find some amazing photos to view. It's worth the look. Here's one photo taken from the web to whet your appetites. Much better than any photo I could take.

Basilica de Pilar, Zaragoza at sunset (taken from the internet)

Tarragona - Romans and Phoenicians

Coastal Tarragona is a city with a proud history. Our hotel room overlooked the Roman amphitheatre, the Phoenician ruins and the sea. 5 minutes walk took us to their famous Rambla (long pedestrian street). It was so nice in fact, that we considered cancelling our next destination and just staying another night. We didn't end up walking along the beach though as the train line was between us and the beach, our hotel was on high on the hill with no access to the beach nor across the train line. The walk north or south to find access was too far given the time we had available. A delightful and wonderful stop on our busy schedule.

Roman Amphitheatre by night, Tarragona

Montserrat - Monks & Nature

The medieval monastery of Montserrat is based high in the mountains just west of Barcelona. It is a huge complex that is now a major tourist attraction as well, not only for its monastery and the amazing location, but for it's cheese and other delicacies. There is a boy's choir that sings every day but we arrived to late to hear them. Instead, we took the funicular railway to the top of the next peak and then climbed on foot to the next one with it's chapel. I had long wanted to visit this spectacular site and was not disappointed. We also bought some cheese (sheep) that we very much enjoyed, together with the local fig cake that was extremely tasty!