Zaragoza; Thursday, 12 March, 2015

For once I’d actually asked the hotel for a wake-up call as I thought there was a chance I might not wake up of my own accord. In the end with the time still showing a 3 for the hour I woke in plenty of time.

With Heathrow shrouded in a light mist and still cloaked in darkness I made my way through the eerily quiet airport, the deserted security area and eventually onto the shuttle train out to the satellite terminal where my flight was leaving from.

Pretty much on time we took off with the sun only just rising behind us for an uneventful flight to Madrid. From the airport it was a relatively quick hop into the city centre to get to Atocha for the early afternoon train towards Barcelona and the French border.

I picked up the bus into the city centre and then walked the short distance to the hotel to check-in and then head out into the narrow lanes of the old town to have a wander.

First stop was the site of the spectacular Roman Theatre and then onto the Plaza del Pilar, the heart of the historic centre with the Basilica church and the Cathedral dominating the long plaza.

I had a look round the enormous basilica, a site of pilgrimage even to today, and then took the lift up one of the towers for the views out over the Basilica, the river and the wider city.

Back down from the tower I had a bit more of a wander round the city centre taking in some more of the city’s Roman remains before finding myself by the medieval stone bridge around sunset so I was able to get some stunning photos of the Basilica with the sun setting behind it.

I headed back to the hotel to freshen up, and to kill some time before any restaurants were open. Eventually my stomach forced me out of the hotel just before 9pm when I managed to find a very nice tapas bar about half way to the cathedral.

Stuffed from most of Aragon’s cheese and meat output for the year I headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep, and a lie-in to make up for the early wake up.