Days 19 and 20

(Rhia’s comments are italicized)

We got some down time because NO TRAVEL DAYS!!! 🎉🎊🎉 We found out that Sundays and Mondays are down times for everyone in Zaragoza as well! But we stumbled across some pretty cool landmarks, displays, events, and even a rare disc golf course.

We decided to play a scavenger hunt game again to get a brief introduction to the old town of Zaragoza. But before we even got started, we chanced upon this giant indoor statue.

One of the strange things we discovered was the site of a famous leaning tower that needed knocking down, so it only existed in murals.

But then we found this town has some real live leaning towers, too.

There was also a town square that is called “The Square of two Cathedrals” because, well, it has two Cathedrals. The bigger of the two is named the Basilica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar, or more commonly, the Pilar Basilica. According to legend, the Virgin Mary appeared unexpectedly (on the day Christopher Columbus landed in America) and left a pillar to show she’d been there. She then told Saint James to construct a church in her honor.

As we entered the square, the Cathedral bells started tolling something fierce, and did not stop for almost 10 minutes. We saw a large crowd gathering to watch a religious procession, so being good tourists, we joined the crowd and tried to figure out what we were participating in.

Another (bigger) procession that happens in October at this square is called the Fiestas del Pilar, where they parade huge crystal lanterns through the streets to the Cathedral. They are on public display when in storage.

Oh, and there were the ruins of a Roman Colosseum in the old town of Zaragoza, too.

Rhia’s waist belt on her backpack had broken back in Granada seconds before our long hike to the Air BnB, so needed repair, but where to go???

Zaragoza is also home to one of the 22 disc golf courses in Spain, so we had to go pay it a visit. ‘We’ didn’t feel the need to visit it at all…it’s a bit like when I tell people that ‘we’ renovate houses 😂

Something I’ll remember Zaragoza for is its friendly people. I’ve had many conversations (in Spanish where I’m sure I’ve butchered the language) and even had a history lesson (spoken very fast!) To be honest, I’m not sure how much of what I think I’ve been told is actually what I WAS told and how much is the result of not knowing enough Spanish!! Still, I’m really pleased that I can now communicate in three languages…except for in one cafe where I asked for the menu and was shown the bathroom 😂. So what did I do in that cafe? I went to the bathroom, of course 🥴

Tomorrow, we leave Spain. I’ll be sad as it remains one of my favorite European countries. But, as The Terminator said, “I’ll be back!”