Sunday December 6th, 2015
As soon as we land in Zaragoza, we rent the car and head to the city center to start our winter trip in Spain. We stop in the Expo area, unfortunately most of the buildings seem abandoned. We continue to the center and we immediately stop to visit the palace of the Aljaferia.
Then we go downtown. Our hotel is located on the main square, the Plaza del Pilar, but we do not find a nearby parking, so we leave the car on the opposite bank of the river and cross the Puente de Piedra. In the square we enter the Lonja, open for an exhibition and then we enter the Basilica del Pilar.
At the bottom of the square there are the church of S. Juan de los Panetes with Torreon de la Zuda, the ancient Roman walls and the covered market.
We pass in front of some churches and palaces including S. Isabel de Portugal, S. Felipe, Palacio de los Condes de Morata or Luna, Iglesia de la Manteria, the remains of the Roman Theater, S. Corazon de Jesus, S. Carlos, Iglesia de la Magdalena, S. Agustin, S. Nicolas and then return to the square and see the cathedral (La Seo) inside.
In the evening, we take photos of the lit city by going on the other bank of the river, to have a view of the river, the Puente de Piedra and the churches all together.
Monday December 7th, 2015
Before leaving the city, we stop at Puerta del Carmen and S. Engracia. We continue for Nuevalos. On the road the clouds and fog alternate with a beautiful sun.
Unfortunately, when we arrive at our destination there are fog and cold. In Nuevalos there is the Monasterio de Piedra, an ancient monastery with a park full of ponds and waterfalls.
The day is not ideal, but there are many people in the queue for the ticket. We wait for a while in the queue, then we decide to give up. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to visit only the museum without the park.
On the road to Valencia we stop in Teruel, and we visit the cathedral and the museum of the Casa de la Comunidad. We reach Valencia in the evening and return the car (in the next few days we will move by public transport) and go to the hotel. We eat and take some photos to the city.
Tuesday December 8th, 2015
Today we have a nice sun, we would have wanted this weather even yesterday. We start by walking around: Plaza del Ayuntamiento, Palau del Marques de Scala, Plaza de Tetuan, S. Tomas, Temple, Puente del Real, Jardin del Turia (where the river used to flow in the past), S. Salvador, S. Lorenzo till the Torres de Serranos on which we go up for the panorama.
We enter the nearby Corpus Museum (free) where we admire various statues and wagons used in the processions. We continue to Iglesia del Carmen and visit the attached museum. Today, all museums are free.
The museum surprised us by its size, from the outside we did not expect it was so big: it’s arranged around 2 cloisters. We cross the Jardines of Real y Viveros and return to the Catedral.
It is still early and we decide to relax a bit: we go from Torres de Quart and enter the Botanical Garden. In addition to the plants, there are many cats inside. In the evening we visit the Cathedral and after dinner, the usual tour to take the night photos.
Wednesday December 9th, 2015
We spend the whole day at the Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias, starting with the aquarium, then the Museum of Science and finally the 4D cinema. We wait for the sunset for the photos with the lights. Then we go back to the hotel.
Thursday December 10th, 2015
In the morning we go to the beach area, Playa del Cabanyal and Playa Malvarosa. We return to the center and visit the Museo de Bellas Artes. We still walk a bit in the center without a precise destination and in the evening we return to the airport. And time to leave Spain and go back to Italy.
