Onwards to Zaragoza.

Selfie in Zaragoza.

We were a bit nervous when we arrived at Barcelona Sants for our journey to Zaragoza. Why? Well, Peter had booked our tickets on trenes.com. The price had started out at around €120, but when Peter had ticked a box to say that he was a wheelchair user, it suddenly changed to €8 each. Sitting in HK weeks before the trip we were delighted with this, but nearer the time, we began to fear it had to be a too good to be true and that the ticket was fake.

To our immense relief, it wasn't fake and for €8 each we boarded a clean, comfortable, efficient, punctual IRYO high speed train and got fantastic passenger assistance thrown in. We had so much leg room, and really comfortable window seats. It was a really enjoyable journey and we travelled around 311 km in just one hour twenty-three minutes for a total price of €16 for two of us.

Naturally, however, we made some mistakes. We should have sought out the passenger assistance office at Barcelona Sants and got help right from the start. I didn't know this and made Peter step onto the train while I carried his wheelchair onboard. There was actually a special door just for wheelchair users and Peter should have been raised up on a lifting device while sitting in his wheelchair. We got it right when we were getting off.

Scenery on route.

When we arrived in Zaragoza, we got a really lovely passenger assistance guy who made sure he took us to transport to our final destination. I had intended to push Peter to our hotel, as it wasn't supposed to be too far, but getting a taxi was so much easier. The price was quite expensive though, it was almost as much as coming from Barcelona for a journey of around three minutes.

For our first night we were staying in the Zaragoza Zentral Ave Hotel. It had a strange curving wooden walkway as its entrance that was not good to push a wheelchair on. It was a bit like putting Peter on a rollercoaster. We checked in and got a nice big room with a safe and a fridge. Unfortunately, the safe didn't seem to work. We weren't bothered, as we weren't going to be here long before moving to a more historical area of Zaragoza. We didn't go straight to the historical area as for our first night the price there was extortionate.

Our room.

Our room.

I decided to go for a walk in the area around our hotel. I always scout out places to eat, where to shop for food and where I can easily push Peter. The area around the hotel was largely residential with several wide green parks. These parks weren't especially fancy, but they had play areas for children and places to sit. The nicest park was the one located on the banks of the River Ebro.

Park by the river.

Selfie in the park.

The river.

The river.

The river.

There was a walkway here that went all the way to the Old Town. In fact I could see the Old Town in the distance, but, as the hotel we would move to the next day was in the Old Town, I didn't walk there.

Looking towards the Old Town.

Looking towards the Old Town.

I found an attractive modern bridge across the river which took me to the former site of Zaragoza Expo 2008.

Bridge.

Bridge.

Expo 2008.

I loved the fact that there were so many autumnal trees in the park by the river. I really do adore autumn and spring.

Autumn colours.

Autumn colours.

I also came across quite a few examples of street art.

Art.

Art.

Art.

Art.

There were several places near the hotel where I could have taken Peter for dinner, but we decided just to go to the hotel bar for drinks and tapas.

We had a potato and minced meat ball which was very nice and a fish and pepper croquette which was also good. I also bought cheese and ham croquettes which the barman told me were really famous in Spain. We didn't like these as the ham was really gristly. I also got two olive and fish tapas.

Peter at dinner.

Tapas.

Tapas.

After dinner, we went to bed. I woke up at 3.45am, because someone was making a lot of noise in the corridor. In fact they sounded like they were trying to get into our room. I got up and started walking towards our door. I was still half asleep. Suddenly the door opened and a man and a woman walked into our room. I was so, so shocked, for a moment I couldn't even believe it. The man and woman looked equally shocked to see me.

They explained that they had just checked in and were told to come to room 114 which was our room. I just kept repeating: "No, this is our room" because I don't think my brain had even really started functioning. The couple apologized and went away. At this point Peter woke up and asked: "Were you just talking to someone?" I said: "Yes, to the people who just let themselves into our room." He said: "What people?" Not much point in relying on him to protect me!!!!

I phoned reception and said: "Two people just let themselves into our room with a key."

The receptionist said: "I'm sorry there's been a glitch with the computer."

I was furious and slammed down the phone. I moved a chair against the door in case anyone else tried to get in. It took me ages to calm down enough to go back to sleep. In the morning, I was still mad.

We were travelling with a small travel kettle. When I plugged it in to make coffee, I fused all the electricity in the room. I went downstairs to complain we had no electricity, avoiding mentioning that that was actually my own fault. Then I complained again about having people walk into my room in the middle of the night, because I still wasn't over it. When I went back to the room, my key card had stopped functioning. I went back down to complain again. The staff could see I was so angry that they apologized profusely and gave both of us a free buffet breakfast. I accepted this as at least it was something and I didn't want the incident to ruin our stay, so I went back to the room and got Peter and dragged him down for a free breakfast. It was actually very good. My brother-in-law said in the same circumstances he'd have expected more than a free breakfast, but I guess I can be easily bought.

Peter at breakfast.

The day before all this happened the screen of the phone I broke when I fell over in Bangkok went weird and now my phone just wouldn't come on at all. Fortunately I had brought a spare phone, but I lost everything that was stored on my first phone, including my photos and all the research I had done on Zaragoza.

I took Peter for a short walk to the parks near our hotel and showed him the nearby Lidl and restaurants.

Peter outside our hotel.

Peter in the park.

Peter in the park.

We checked out and the staff apologized again. I had decided by then just to try and get over it, but it had been really scary to have someone walk into our room in the middle of the night

We booked a Freenow, which turned out to be an Uber, as there are no Freenow in Zaragoza. From this point on we began to realize that Uber was cheaper than Freenow, so we switched allegiance.

Our car took us to The Ibis Styles in the city centre. Our room wasn't ready, so we had to sit and wait in reception for around an hour. When we finally got the room, it was big and clean and comfortable. It was quite dark though with opaque windows.

Our room.

Peter told me to go out and find my way around Zaragoza, then take him to the sights the next day, so once again I set out in pursuit of places to eat, shop and an idea of how to get around.

We were located right on the edge of the Old Town.

First I wandered into an area known as El Tubo which is famous for having many many tapas restaurants. In fact there seemed to be restaurants everywhere so we wouldn't have any problems with food here.

Open air cafe.

Restaurant.

El Tubo area.

Restaurant.

El Tubo.

There was lots of colourful street art around the restaurants and some interesting shops.

Street art.

Street art.

Street art.

Street art.

Street art.

Street art.

Street art.

I liked this colourful shop.

I liked this colourful shop.

Then I wandered towards the historic centre of town. I just intended to have a quick look and explore properly the following day. I kept passing lots of beautiful churches.

The Church of the Seminary of San Carlos Borromeo was close to our hotel.

The Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Iglesas. This houses the Museum of Lanterns and the Crystal Rosary.

The Church of Santa María Magdalena.

The Church of San Juan de los Panetes.

There were lots of old narrow streets, as well as some wider ones. It was all pretty flat so good for getting Peter around.

Street.

Narrow street.

Street.

I found palaces, statues, squares and an archway.

The Arch of Dean.

San Bruno Square.

San Bruno Square.

Palacio de la Familia Palafox, now a hotel.

The Eagle Shepherd by Spanish artist Pablo Gargallo.

Monument to the Argensola Brothers.

I reached the beautiful Cathedral of the Savior of Zaragoza, also known as La Seo de Zaragoza. This has beautiful Moorish walls.

La Seo.

Moorish wall.

La Seo from the front.

La Seo is located on Plaza de Pilar, a massive open square with lots of wonderful historical buildings including The Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, the most famous building in Zaragoza.

Plaza de Pilar.

On the Plaza de Pilar I saw many statues, a fountain, the Zaragoza City Hall and a historical building called La Lonja.

The City Hall of Zaragoza.

La Lonja.

Doorway.

Lion.

There's a monument to Goya, the Spanish romantic painter who was born in Aragon. This monument was sculpted by Federico Marés in 1960. It features a statue of Goya on a pedestal, with people sitting on the ground all around him.

Goya.

The Monument to Goya.

The Monument to Goya.

The Monument to Goya.

The Monument to Goya.

The Monument to Goya.

There's an unusual fountain called the Fountain of Hispanicity. It's supposed to look like the Spanish parts of South and Central America. I think you may need to view it from above to get this effect. This fountain was created in 1991.

Fountain of Hispanicity.

There are also two statues of children with fish.

Statue.

The Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar is huge and very, very impressive. It occupies most of the square. It's possible to photograph parts of it from the far side of the square or from down a side street.

Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar from the square.

Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar from the square.

Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar from a side street.

Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar from a side street.

However, I found the best way to photograph it was to cross the River Ebro and view this magnificent cathedral from the other side of the water. Many viewpoints were blocked by trees and there were some extremely steep paths down to the water. The view there would have been better, but the paths were so steep I was sure I would end up in the river if I had tried to go down them. However, I did find an easy place to get down to. This was near the old stone bridge across the river - the Puente de Piedra.

View from across the river.

View from across the river.

View with reflection.

View with reflection.

Selfie.

There were also good views from the Puente de Piedra itself.

View of The Basilica Cathedral from the bridge.

The Puente de Piedra was an old arched stone bridge guarded on each side by lions.

The Puente de Piedra.

The Puente de Piedra.

View from The Puente de Piedra.

View from The Puente de Piedra.

Lion guards.

I took Peter out later that night and we headed to the area of town that was well known for tapas. We found an excellent bar that did food and had a very pleasant meal sitting outside.

Peter with a beer.

I had pork in a baguette.

Peter had a burger.

That night I caught up on some much needed sleep and felt ready to explore Zaragoza properly the next day.