![\"\"](\"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220701_214147-768x1024.jpg\")
And that leads us back to Tapas. A Tapas bar is a \u2018casual\u2019 place where you can eat small snacks and have a drink. They are frequented by groups of friends who sit, drink lightly, and nibble. Occasionally, that group of friends might be 6 men and they might drink heavily, eat heartily, and a few might be dressed like young Britney Spears, but that is not the usual. And there\u2019s probably a story in there somewhere. Oh, if you with a large group of Spears, pay attention to what you\u2019ve ordered. Or you will likely to get the old \u201cchicos\u2026. CHICOS…. HOLA!\u201d from the bartender. Never a good idea to order a round of drinks and then wander off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you want to talk Tapas or Bars in Zaragoza, and I know you do, then you have to talk about \u201cEl Tubo.\u201d \u201cEl Tubo\u201d — probably named for the tube- or pipe-like narrow streets that funnel everyone to a good time, but I never asked — is an area in the old town dominated (and I mean dominated) by Tapas bars. Tapas bars are cozied up next to each other like metaphors on a metaphorical cozy thing. Seriously, you can only tell them apart by paying attention to the tables and chairs \u2013 white chairs and brown tables belong to bar A; brown chairs and brown tables are bar B; people standing are\u2026 ordering inside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, the Basilica. The entire city seems to be anchored by the Basilica del Pilar, or the Nuestra Se\u00f1ora del Pilar Basilica, is a massive Baroque cathedral built in the 17th<\/sup> and 18th<\/sup> centuries. I know you want to look up the story of Mary, James and that darned ol\u2019 jasper pillar, so I\u2019ll wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interesting, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Basilica is monstrous, massive, marvelous\u2026 and, somewhat oddly, the fa\u00e7ade facing the square is beautiful and the side facing the river is, well, more of a fortress. Might have made more sense in the 17th<\/sup> century. Entrance into the Basilica is free, but please no photos. And, unless you are an ugly American, do not ask the lady taking photos Disney Land style to take a pic of you pointing at the signs saying not photography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While you out and about, don\u2019t expect much to speak, hear, or read English. Not even at your hotel. This is Zaragoza! Good news, though, is that you\u2019ll be speaking, hearing, and reading Spanish and not Catalan. (Side note: back in Girona, a server noticed that I spoke English and gave me the Spanish menu instead of the Catalan menu. Nice.) Do, however, expect the unexpected. Like the wonderfully excellent \u201cMoonlight Experimental Bar\u201d! Oh, and this is actually a bar, a cocktail bar. Running the bar, is a husband\/wife team who craft cocktails with the dedication of 17th<\/sup> century stone mason crafting the Basilica. It might take a century or so, but you\u2019ll be glad you waited. Shout out to \u201cMoonlight Experimental Bar.\u201d Oh, and don\u2019t break anything: each drink is served in a unique vessel (not a glass or a cup), and each vessel was handmade by a local artist. That\u2019s worth a visit, because you\u2019re not a drunk, you\u2019re a patron of the arts!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Zaragosa! Sitting west of Barcelona and west of Madrid, Zaragosa is flat and hot \u2013 well, hot when I was there; but no one else seemed to mind, so maybe it\u2019s just plain hot. Unless you are in the center of the old city, everything is beautifully laid out: spacious and grand. In the oldest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1516,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1499"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1519,"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499\/revisions\/1519"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220629_144247-1024x768.jpg\")