Zaragoza

Tuesday, May 2, 2017--Zaragoza, Spain

At breakfast, the were no eggs in any form, but there were two bowls of salsa.  I wondered why they were there as I made toast and ate it with cold cuts.  As I followed that with a bowl of granola with yogurt, I noticed the people at the table beside me.  They had toasted large pieces of bread and had spread a layer of the salsa on them.  Then the lady poured olive oil on top of that before starting to eat.  Then I noticed another table where someone had put slices of chorizo (a Spanish sausage much like salami) on top of toast spread with the salsa.  It was too late for me to consider it this morning, since I was full and already eating something sweet.  But tomorrow, I'm going to try the local dish!

 Just half a block from the hotel is Mercado Central, a huge old wrought iron and glass structure.  Even though I was full from breakfast, I headed there first today.  Unlike many markets, it mainly had meat, seafood, and fruit/vegetable stalls.  There was only one bakery stall, and it wasn't a very good one.  And I think there was only one cheese stall.  Interestingly, there were far more seafood stalls than I have seen at any of the markets so far on this trip--probably as many as there were for meats. 

I spent 5 hours exploring the local city this morning/early afternoon.  I stopped at La Lonja, the former exchange which has a beautiful vaulted ceiling, and saw an exhibit of paintings by a local artist.  Then I went to the Zaragoza Museum only to find that it is closed both today and tomorrow (probably for taking down a show and putting up a new one, since it is normally open except for Mondays).

On the way between those two museums, an elderly man coming toward me on a small plaza said something.  I responded, "No Hablo Espanol."  He raised his walking cane for me to see and said something else.  I'm guessing, since I was walking rather fast as usual, that he was commenting about how well I could walk for an older person.  When he raised the cane, he was probably trying to tell me I was lucky I didn't need a cane like him.

Next, I went to the Museo Pablo Serrano which seems to be in a building that has failed as good architecture by a designer who was trying to do something very contemporary.  Pablo Serrano was a Spanish sculpture, and his work was interesting to see.  Also, a temporary exhibit of art produced for Enate Winery for use on their wine bottle labels was quite interesting with the artists' paintings hanging beside a bottle of wine with the label which reproduced the painting.

Nine years ago in 2008, Zaragoza hosted a World Expo.  Knowing how many expos fail and how ineffective most cities have been at converting expo grounds to a good use after the fairs have ended, I was curious to see what had happened here.  Well, it is one of the worst-case scenarios.  First, the expo was placed on a crook of the local river far from the center of town.  It is a huge area that has lots of pavement, lots of unused buildings, and very limited life today.  A few of the buildings have been occupied by government offices--the judiciary, for instance--but most are just sealed and behind fences.  They built a convention center as part of the project, but it is at the far end of the expo grounds rather than the end nearer to downtown.  I doubt if it is very successful, and the hotel beside it probably is having to be supported by tax moneys to remain open.  It is so remote, that I do not see why any conference would want to book space to be held there.  It's a sad case of a lot of money being spent on a 3-month fair that has left a huge dead area behind.  The original plans for buildings that are noted in the Wikipedia article linked above just never occurred.

This is definitely Spain.  At 14:00 as I was walking back to my hotel, everything shut down--schools, museums, shops, offices, etc.  Only a few restaurants, cafes, and supermarkets are open during this time period.The next two hours will be dead time, then everything will come back to life. 

At 19:30, I went back out to walk the streets which were crowded with people.  Some were window shopping, some were having drinks at sidewalk tables, some were just out to be among people like I was.  I wandered many of the narrow streets and a few of the wider ones.  It was a nice evening with a temperature of 20 degrees C (70 degrees F).