Our day started with breakfast at the hotel before we all packed up our things and check out, boarded our buses and began the drive to Zaragoza. Upon arriving at Plaza de Nuestra Señora del Pilar (the Plaza of Our Lady of the Pillar) and given it was Palm Sunday, the plaza in front of the Basilica del Pilar was bustling with people and churchgoers. Our group entered the basilica to look around and admired its ornate interior, while some decided to attend Palm Sunday mass.
The city of Zaragoza was abuzz due to the fact that it was also Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter. Steet vendors were selling large and very ornate palm fronds which were beautiful, some even had candies attached and incorporated into the design for the families with young children that were milling about the city.
While in Zaragoza, our entire group was granted some free time to explore the city. My small group decided to go to Museo Goya - Colección Ibercaja - Museo Camón Aznar that featured the work of Spanish printmaker and painter, Francisco de Goya. It was a very cool museum that featured the works of Goya and many of his contemporaries. It was especially unique because not only did it feature paintings by Goya, but also a large collection of his printmaker prints.
After my group wrapped up our visit to Museo Goya, we all headed out to see what all the commotion was down the street. There was a large Palm Sunday procession through the streets with every participant wearing matching outfits and robes and the whole town echoed the beating of the drums from the procession. It was really cool and very clearly a beloved tradition from the massive numbers of people out in the streets taking it all in.
Next, it was time for my group to venture out and get some lunch which turned out to be trickier than we had hoped due to the large numbers of people out and about for the Palm Sunday masses and associated festivities in the streets. After striking out at a few places, we all decided to check out an Italian restaurant not too far from our meeting spot in the Plaza de Nuestra Señora del Pilar. Our group could not have been any more pleasantly surprised with our meals. From the cracker thin crust of the wood oven pizzas to the various past dishes ("various" is a bit of a misnomer as it was two varieties of pasta with five people in the group getting the exact same thing and Max being the lone adventurous one). Simply put, the food was amazing!
After lunch, JHS legend Mr. Rogers treated our small group to gelato and then we all hustled back (we were running short on time...this began to be something that happened all too regularly in Spain, but we were NEVER late...unlike some other travelers in our large group) we headed back to our tour buses and settled in for a lengthy stretch of seat time as we head headed to Barcelona!
To Be Continued...
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