Sorry I am a little behind! I have been planning an “American Culture” week and my school, tutoring a bunch, learning to cook new things (recipes to follow shortly!), started running again since beach season is just around the corner, plus a lot of drama with my crazy roommates (Only 2 months left with them!) has kept me wicked busy! I’m off to London and Brighton on Thursday and then Granada next weekend, and then its Semana Santa! Man, spring is just flying by! Oh did I mention that it’s been in the 70’s every day for the past two weeks? Oh yeah, gotta love southern Spain!
So two weekends ago I visited my friend Kelsey in Zaragoza in the north. A fellow MHC Spanish major, she has been working as an auxiliar too and I had been dying to get up there to see her. Zaragoza is really far from me, about an 8 hour drive, but luckily there are high speed trains that run from Sevilla to Barcelona, stopping in both Córdoba and Zaragoza, which cuts five hours off the trip. However, you pay dearly for those five hours. Oooof, sorry credit card! This was my second trip to Zaragoza; I first visited in November 2007 when I was studying abroad in Salamanca, and I went to the three big cities in Aragón: Zaragoza, Huesca, and Teruel. So this trip was more of a relaxing, hanging-out in the sun, and cooking lots of yummy new things kind of weekend than a tourist trip.
Zaragoza is actually a pretty big place given that most people from outside of Spain haven’t heard of it; It is the fifth biggest city in Spain, and has a lot to offer. It was founded by and named after Caesar Augustus (Caesaraugusta-Zaragoza, sounds similar, am I right?) Not to mention, Augustus was my favorite Roman emperor-dorky moment, don’t hate. Anyways, after the Arab conquest in 711, it grew to become the biggest Muslim controlled city in northern Spain. This is all interesting to me because you can see all sorts of ruins and historical sights all over the city, from Roman amphitheaters to Muslim castles and towers to baroque churches. Zaragoza has it all!
It was cool to walk around Zaragoza again, trying to remember the places that I visited before. Traveling around Aragón, the region that Zaragoza is in, was definitely one of my favorite trips that year. This was also the first time Kelsey and I were in Spain at the same time! We both studied abroad in Salamanca, but at different times, and we both go to and from Spain a lot, so it was pretty awesome to actually be in the same city in Spain with her! I think we both probably lost our voices by the end of the weekend from so much catching up! This post is more of a photo diary than a long-winded travel post
Is there any way to get these pictures working again? I’m going to Zaragoza soon and I’d love to see them!
I second the pictures thing! Melinda, are you going to be working there as an auxiliar or just visiting?