It's interesting how we humans always forget about the beautiful things that surround us... While we are checking out posts on HIVE and see great places around the world, we always have a wish to visit them, but sometimes, they are so far away... I'm first like that! Whenever I see a sandy beach on some distant islands, I'm already at Google, checking out plane tickets... 😀
Every country is beautiful! When I moved to Spain, I didn't realize how much history and how big is it! The first few years were the hardest as we had to get used to a new place of living, get our kid to school (kindergarten at that moment), and find a job...
One year passed, and we didn't visit ANY place in Spain except the place where we lived... The second year is the same... I remember talking with our families when they would always ask, "Which places did you discover this year?" Barcelona? Madrid? Looking at the map, everything looks so close... 3 fingers and you are there... In reality, 5-6 hours by car, in one direction!
The same goes for Zaragoza... The place where I would take you today in this #WednesdayWalk... I suppose that I would never (at least not yet) visit this city if there was no wish for my son to continue his music studies there... He was researching places where he could go to University and Zaragoza was one of the options... Of course, my "HIVE-addicted brain" did part of the research and I found out that another 2 Hivians live in that city, so we arranged a meetup!
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One was @palomap3 (the other mentioned Hivian is @ninaeatshere) who was so kind to show us places around Zaragoza! Having a (local) friend in the place which you are visiting is priceless! You can never get so much information from any tour guide as you can get from locals who live their whole lives! They will show you places where a tour guide will not take you, and I like exactly that! The hidden gems of the city...
The Aljafería Palace (Palacio de la Aljafería) isn't one of those "hidden" gems as you can't hide this big castle!! 😃 But, it is a gem, that's for sure!
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What amazes me the most about Spain is the number of historical places all around the country! I suppose that's one of the "attractions" that invites so many tourists all around the world to visit it... It's not just "sun and the beach tourism", but also, a history walk through centuries and this palace is a very good example of exactly that!
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Built during the second half of the 11th century, it is the ONLY example of large conserved Spanish Islamic architecture from that period! Luckily, for centuries, some people took care of it and it had multiple renovations and restorations as these banners say... I have visited in the past Alhambra, in Granada, another historical place which I expected to be the "oldest" and best conserved, but I have to admit that Zaragoza Palace is on another level!!!
In the interior of the castle, there are so many things to see and you could miss a lot of them if you don't pay attention... For example, the roof and ceilings of certain rooms are spectacular!!! I think I had neck pain after this visit! 😃
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What a masterpiece!!!
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Imagine having doors like these at your home! Every time you go through them, you will have a feeling of being a King/Queen for a moment! 😃 Even going to the bathroom would be like a royal walk! 😂
Views at the interior garden remind me of Alhambra again... I remember how the garden in Granada was split into 4 parts, where every part had plants and fruits that were ready for harvesting in different seasons of the year! In that way, they would have fresh food on the table during the whole year! How clever was that!
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On every floor, there was a map of "rooms" that you can visit
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And when you are moving from one floor to another, you go by a staircase like this one!!! Another awesome roof and it's in staircase! Like, c'mon! 😃 It's astonishing how every room got a well-deserved "beautify filter"... 🙂
Family tree of Kings of Aragon
Speaking of details...
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Some parts of the palace are taken to the National Archeological Museum in Madrid...
And suddenly, out of nowhere, inside the palace, you walk into a big hall where the Regional Parlament of the autonomous community of Aragon has its sessions! I'm not sure that I like the idea of seeing politicians in such a historical place, but on the other side, except for historic value, it's great to see that the palace still has a "use case" after almost a thousand years later!!!
Two Hivians giving a speech on the importance of decentralization 😂
And there we are... at the end of this walk that lasted almost one millennium... From the past to the present... I have a few dozen photos from this awesome place, and I hope I will find time to share them in some of the next posts... You can find more information about the Palace on the Wikipedia page.
In the meantime, if you are bored, you can check out other places pinned on my WorldMapPin!
Thank you for your time,
--ph--
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