Map of Saragossa

Zaragoza, Saragossa,* Cesar Augusta - since Roman times, Zaragoza has been a major city, a crossroads and a river port. It is almost equidistant between Madrid and Barcelona (or France), to the west and east, or Bilbao and Valencia, to the north and south. It is a large city of nearly 700,000 inhabitants (nearly 800,000 if you count the entire metropolitan area), the capital of both Zaragoza province and of the modern region of Aragón.

Zaragoza for Visitors. Zaragoza has long been the kind of place you were likely to stop on your way somewhere else, though that is changing. Expo Zaragoza 2008 in particular is putting the city firmly on the tourist map, and it is an enjoyable place to be and a good base for exploring the region. You can see its major sights in half a day, but it is tempting to linger for longer.

Arrival. The old Portillo Station has been displaced by the multi-purpose Estación Intermodal-Delicias, in the west of Zaragoza. The AVE high-speed train arrives here, as do intercity buses, the airport bus can drop you off here, and a cable-car can take you directly into the Expo Zaragoza 2008 precinct from here.

Orientation. Zaragoza proper lies south of the Ebro - it has developed to the north, as well, but there is nothing there to draw you** (or rather, there used not to be, before Expo Zaragoza 2008, which occupies a space on the left bank of the Ebro formed by a loop in the river). But most of Zaragoza's sights are on the southern right bank of the river, between the north-south running Avenida de Cesar Augusto and the Calle del Coso. The exception is the Alfajería Palace, a couple of kilometres west of the centre.>

Sights. Zaragoza's important sights are few, but genuinely great:

Basilica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar. Built around a pillar onto which the Virgin is supposed to have descended. It is one of Spain's great ecclesiastical buildings and one of its most emblematic.
Seo, Cathedral of San Salvador. A handsome Mudéjar building with Romesque elements. It was built on the site of a mosque, itself built on the Roman forum.
Alfajería Palace. An 11th-century, Moorish fortified palace, one of the great Muslim buildings left in Spain after the Alhambra and Great Mosque of Córdoba. It has been cruelly mistreated in the past, not so much when it was used as a palace by Aragón and Spain's Christian monarchs as when it was a gaol, or even a barracks. Fortunately, it is now home to the Regional Parliament of Aragón, has been properly restored for that purpose and is treated with the respect it deserves.

Also marked on the map are:

Expo Zaragoza 2008, dedicated to Water and Sustainable Development, the biggest event in Spain this year.
Ayuntamiento (City Hall), and the
Lonja (Exchange), a handsome, 16th-century Mudéjar building, most remarkable because it is a civil building and most Mudéjar architecture was religious.
Torreón de la Zuda (Zuda Tower). The Zuda was the headquarters of the Moorish governors, built on the Roman walls. The torreón, tower, is now used as a tourist information office.
Roman walls. There are bits of Roman wall west of the Basilica and north of the cathedral.
Plaza de Cesar Agusto. Next to the Torreón de la Zuda. On the other side of the square stands the Church of San Juan de los Panetes, with its curiously leaning tower.
Audiencia, or Casa de los Gigantes, a Renaissance building which gets its nickname from two statues either side of the entrance.
Church of La Magdalena, one of three in Saragossa with Mudéjar towers (the Mudéjar architecture of Aragón is a World Heritage site).

Eating and Drinking. Zaragoza's cuisine is that of Aragón, which in spite of Zaragoza's fertile Ebro plains, is mountainous to north and south. Gastronomy. Aragón's produce includes Teruel mountain ham, game and fish, mushrooms and truffles, spices like saffron, olive oil, cheese, and its market garden produce - tomatoes, asparagus and borage. This last is the basis for one of Zaragoza's few wholly local dishes, borraja con patatas, borage with potatoes. Another is the deliciously sweet guirlache de Zaragoza, made almost entirely of sugar and almonds. Wine. The Ebro is second only to the Duero as a great wine river, and there are three fine wine regions near Zaragoza: Cariñena, Campo de Borja and Calatayud. And Somontano in Huesca is one of the up-and-coming wine regions of Europe, winning prizes left, right and centre while remaining fabulous value for money.

When to Go: Saragossa's climate is continental-Mediterranean, but mild because of its lack of altitude, so you don't need to be deterred by either the cold of winter or the heat of summer. Fiestas: Saragossa's patron saint is the Virgin of the Pillar, whose feast day is October 12th, celebrations beginning the previous previous weekend and continuing to the next. It is an atypical fiesta, as it is also Spain's national holiday and "Hispanic Day," commemorating the date in 1492 when Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Americas, which gives it a not altogether likeable nationalistic edge.

Getting There: As I have said, Zaragoza is a crossroads, easily accessible from Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao or Valencia.
By Air: As an international airport, Zaragoza has not quite taken off, if you'll pardon the expression, but Ryanair operates flights to it from London Stansted, Brussels, Milan and Rome. Zaragoza Airport is only 10 kilometres away from the city centre. By Rail. Zaragoza's rail connections are enviable, especially east-west, as it is about half-way along the Madrid-Barcelona AVE high-speed railway line, 1 hour 20 minutes from Madrid, 1 hour 30 minutes from Barcelona. North-south, Zaragoza is 4 hours 40 minutes by rail from Bilbao, and more or less the same from Valencia. By Road. Much less convenient than the train from Madrid or Barcelona, 3 to 3 1/2 hours. But at 3 hours from Bilbao, and another hour or so from Santander, it might be interesting to catch the ferry to bring your car over. By Bus. Alsa runs twenty odd buses a day Zaragoza from Madrid (over 4 1/2 hours), and almost as many from Barcelona (about 3 1/2 hours), and as always it is the cheapest option - the standard fare is not much more than €13 in either case, and at the time of writing Alsa has a special offer of €10.95 for Internet purchases.

History of Zaragoza. Caesaraugusto was founded around 20 BC and named in honour of Augustus (Julius Caesar's heir, he of the triumvirates). It was an important city under Roman rule, though nothing exciting seems to have happened there. Under the Visigoths, it became an episcopal centre. The Moors named it Saraqusta, and following the Caliphate of Córdoba it became the capital of a taifa, petty kingdom, the most important in the north of Spain. The Alfajería dates from this time.

In 1181, it was reconquered by Alfonso the Battler of Aragón and Navarre, who made it the capital of Aragón. Most of its Moorish population fled, and it had to be repopulated. In the 16th century, it was the scene of a popular uprising, which Philip II put down with typical hardness, using the Spanish tercios on the one hand and the Inquisition on the other - Aragón lost privileges as a result.

In the Peninsula War (which Spaniards call their War of Independence), there were two Sieges of Saragossa, in 1808. In the first, the city withstood heroically for two months, inflicting serious casualties on the French, in the second it was practically destroyed - its population of 55,000 was reduced to 12,000.

In the Spanish Civil War, Zaragoza was taken by the rebels (Nationalists) on the first day of the war (July 17th, 1936), and so was a serious inconvenience to the Republicans throughout the war.

*These days, "Saragossa" is just the old-fashioned form of "Zaragoza," but there used to be a distinction between "Saragossa," the historic English name of the city, and "Zaragoza," the province of which Saragossa is the capital. But the modern trend of adopting the names used in the language of the country and, especially, the existence of a football team called Zaragoza mean I am one of the few people who still calls the place Saragossa. I am trying to rectify, but old habits die hard, sorry about that.

**It is being said that one of the virtues of Expo Zaragoza 2008 is that it "connects Zaragoza with the other bank of the Ebro."

Comments

Add a new Comment