We are spending a day in the municipal campsite at Zaragoza, largely while we wait to see what might be happening with our return sailing but also to give Francine a possibility of going in to Zaragoza to have a look around. That initial plan was weather dependent, to some extent.
The morning dawned overcast but calm and dry, with some rain expected in the later afternoon. I was told I was going into the city [scary]. Our travel options included walking but it would be a 15km round trip. Alternatively we could cycle but Francine’s bike is now fully manual, the electronic controller having given up the ghost. Never mind a few minor inclines, there doesn’t seem to be a decent cycle route. Public transport to the rescue – we were going in on the bus [scary].
A number 41 bus goes from close to our campsite via a circuitous route into the Puerta del Carmen on the edge of Zaragoza old town. Francine bravely boarded the bus with me in tow. We coughed up €1.70 each to the driver and were off. The ride took an initially circuitous route around the houses before heading into the centre. We arrived at the Puerta del Carmen in a little over 30 minutes.
From the bus stop we entered the old town in search of the covered market. Other than a couple of café stalls in the centre of the hall, the market hall was shut. [Grump] The surrounding areas were absolutely heaving with humanity and several lengthy queues were snaking their way into some of the more historic buildings around the square. A musical event was being staged in front of an artistic waterfall in the main square – well, rectangle, really. The giant waterfall is supposedly shaped like a section of central America and the Caribbean to commemorate the discovery of the Americas in 1492. Well, if they say so.
Zaragoza is supposedly home to 1.5 million souls, which constitutes 50% of the population of Aragón, and today every one of ‘em seemed to be in the middle of the city. We were a bit perplexed.
To try and relieve ourselves of the crush, we wandered out onto a Roman bridge to get a more advantageous view of the Cathedral-Basilica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar, dedicated to Mary who (it says here) appeared on a pillar. In any event, it’s got a pretty roof.
Given the seething hoards, every tapas bar/restaurant that we saw around the main square looked pretty full, so we started walking away from the main square back towards our return bus stop. This route led us to an area of Zaragoza called El Tubo, which seemed to be full of tapas bars. At least one of these, Casa Buisan, was not heaving so, partly in desperation, we went in.
Casa Buisan was pleasant enough in an unscintillating sort of way. It was actually so calm that, if anything, it lacked a bit of atmosphere. Nonetheless, we enjoyed a couple of glasses of decent vino tinto to wash down our raciones. We chose a plate of Chiperones a la plancha [grilled squid] and some Berenjenas a la miel [Aubergines with honey]. Both were very good.
Well fed and watered, we completed our return route on foot to the bus stop to get back “home”. Our disembarking bus stop was close to a Mercadona supermarket which we intended to call into. Much to our surprise, it was shut. Then we realised that our bus ride had taken us past several other supermarkets, all of which had also been shut. Curious.
We sauntered back to Frodo via a rather dismal Proximo “supermarket” which was, going against the grain, open.
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