Today we drove to the nearby city of Zaragoza to see the Aljafeira Castle and the Basilica of Our Lady of Pilar.
Traffic into the city was a bit heavy but our route avoided congestion. We parked at an underground parking lot near the Basilica.
We set out towards the castle first as we'd end up close to the car when we finished with the Basilica.
As you can see the day started over overcast and sprinkling.
There's a museum displaying the works of Goya, whom I found slight disturbing in his sketches and somewhat uninteresting in his portraits of royalty and bigwigs. But what do I know.
Goya
Not Goya, no info placard found... I'm guessing something related to Santiago and El Camino.
Several Moor style portals....
Inner Courtyard
The castle is now the Courts/parliament building for the Aragon Autonomous Region.
St. George and Dragon by Rubens
Overall, we found the castle slighty underwhelming. The cool turreted towers are only on one side and more facade than anything else. The restored Moorish architectural items inside were cool.
So, we headed back to the Basilica and found some lunch at a Chinese restaurant. It was meh but it was nearby and our feet ached.
After lunch, we went to the Basilica and poked around:
Here's some views while wandering along the river before lunch.
Leaning Tower
After lunch, we found the sun had come out!
Anatomically correct lions
Our Lady of the Pilar
Returning to our parking lot, located near the globe sculpture above, we paid and left the city with no issues.
The afternoon was for resting and processing pics. Depending on what device you believe, we walked between 9
13,000-16,400 steps today!
4 comments:
More interesting and impressive architecture. You are very close to the Circuit Motorland Aragon where MotoGP and WSBK race- not sure if that is of any interest to you.
Thanks for the heads up Oz, MotoGP isn't on my radar, it's kinda like Nascar or F1 racing, mostly circular activities.
Things only Americans would notice? "Anatomically correct lions..." LOL. Interesting how the Moorish architecture took over.
Yeah, it takes so little to get my attention sometimes, SonjaM. As to the architectural blend...they call it Mudejar, mix of Moors who stayed behind after the Reconquista and Catholic rebuilding.
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