TRIP #2 (Part I) - ZARAGOZA

Our first trip was to the beautiful northeast area of Spain known as Aragón and Cataluña. Our first stop was in Zaragoza. Once a Roman port city on the Ebro River, the city was known as Caesaraugusta (from which the modern name is derived). Our hotel was in the historial center of the city just a few minutes walk from the Basilica de la Virgen del Pilar, the Cathedral, the Lonja (an ancient commodities exchange building, and an array of Roman ruins. Let's begin with the centerpiece of the area, the Basílica de la Virgen del Pilar. According to legend on 12 October 40 A.D. the apostle, Saint James, the Greater, arrived in Caesaraugusta on a mission to preach the Gospel. After a difficult time trying to gain converts and with minimal success, Saint James was on the banks of the Ebro River praying when the Virgen Mary appeared to him standing on a pillar accompanied by a choir of angels. She promised him that eventually converts would be found and that they would be as strong as the pillar on which she stood. She gave him the pillar and a small wooden image of herself. She then commanded him to build a chapel on that spot. Today the Basílica is immense (see below).

Many thousands of Catholic faithful come to worship in the Basílica. While we were there a group of children from a local school were there. They sang songs and read scripture in the area where the small Virgen stands atop the silver plated pillar. Unfortunately I was not able to take pictures of the interior.

The city's Cathedral is equally amazing. It is a gothic building though not built in the traditional cruciform shape (similar to Santa María del Mar in Barcelona). One of the salient features of the Cathedral are two small chapels on opposite sides of the building where the transept would normally be. Both chapels have canopies over the saint in the style of Bernini (like those in the Vatican). Below are some exterior shots.

This side of the Cathedral shows a trait common to many buildings in Aragón; the use of tiles to create decorative façades. This influence comes from the mudéjar tradition (mudéjares were Muslims who remained in Christian territories after the Reconquest but did not convert to Christianity). Below are some detailed shots.

Also in Zaragoza were some amazing Roman ruins. Known as the Ruta Romana, there are a series of four excavated ruins made up of: a Roman theater, a Roman bath, a Roman forum, and stair landings near the Ebro River.

Roman Theater

Roman Forum

Above is the large canal that carried waste water out of the city to drain into the Ebro River. Fresh water was brought in from the mountains via aqueducts.

The fresh water was transported throughout the city via lead pipes. The pipes were formed by taking lead plates and rolling them around a post. the seam was sealed together with hot lead and the pipes were then connected one to another with a lead "gasket" that was soldered to the each pipe. Frankly, not much different from the way we build our water systems today, just without the lead.

Below are the steps that lead to the port on the Ebro River. Merchandise was taken up these steps and then transported to the nearby forum.

Other evidences of the empire are some exposed Medieval walls built on Roman foundations.

And a Roman bridge that is still used today.