Tharagotha

Tharagotha... or in other words, my best romanization of how a Spaniard would pronounce the name "Zaragoza," the most recent city we visited. Zaragoza, located about an hour and a half away from Calahorra, is a city I usually heard mentioned because of its university. Leaving early in the morning, we caught one of the earlier tours of the castle in Zaragoza, Aljaferia. The castle has an incredible history of renovations and owners, as it began as a palace of the Banu Hud dynasty (an Islamic palace), then turned into the residence of Christian Kings, and was finally renovated to be a military fort.

In my opinion, the most stunning part of the palace is the oldest section, which is the part constructed during the Banu Hud dynasty. The architecture, as well as the courtyard, are absolutely breathtaking. However, what you will see in my pictures is not actually how the castle was back during when it was originally constructed. Originally, instead of everything being gray stone, the stone was painted over with vivid reds, blues, and a lot of gold. Because of this, the main hall, which faced the setting sun (or rising, I actually don't remember... umm..), would shine brilliantly at sunset (or maybe it was sunrise? haha).

After the Christian Kings took over, they contributed to the current structure by building on top of the old castle, probably as a showing of dominance and control. Then, an additional section in the back of the castle was added when it became a military fort, and now, that section is filled with offices.

The outside of Aljaferia

The stunning interior of the Islamic palace

The ceiling in the portion the Christina King's constructed

A stairwell with yet another intriguing ceiling

After Aljaferia, we took a quick visit to the cathedral, known for the fact that in 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, three bombs were launched at the cathedral and they did not explode. Two of the three are on display, however, pictures inside the Cathedral were prohibited, so you'll have to come to Zaragoza to see it for yourself.

The exterior of the Cathedral

You've heard of segway tours... but roller blade tours? I need to do that too.

And of course, some amazing food eaten on the street of Tubo.

So that's Zaragoza. We're going sometime this week to Asturias, the most mountainous region of Spain. So until then!