ZARAGOZA

Full of elaborate architecture and thrumming with vibrant tapas bars the Aragónese capital is a rich, storied base for exploring the stirring landscapes of Spain’s wild north east.

- Words: Stephen Phelan

No Spanish place name holds as much mysterious promise as Zaragoza. It sounds like a magic word, the last phonetic flourish of a witch’s spell. Appropriate, given the city almost feels conjured from the wind-whipped moors around halfway between Madrid and Barcelona. Standing on the River Ebro, this provincial capital has witnessed centuries of turbulence as the capital of the former kingdom of Aragón — a domain variously occupied over the millennia by Romans, Islamic caliphates, Catholic monarchs and the forces of General Franco.

All left their mark on the present architecture, but there are few buildings more evocative than the baroque spires around the mighty basilica of Nuestra Señora del Pilar, which marks the spot where the Virgin Mary supposedly appeared to St James in AD 40. Step inside and you’ll find its inner domes coloured by the art of Francisco de Goya, the artist born close enough to the city in 1746 to qualify as a local hero.

The master painter’s ubiquitous work remains a totem of Zaragoza’s abiding creative spirit, and its people — nicknamed ‘maños’ — have inherited some of Spain’s richest traditions, from chocolate-making to lively folk dances. But perhaps the greatest magic is in the Old Town: a painted labyrinth of taverns, courtyards and tapas bars that thrum at night like blood through veins.

DAY ONE TILES & TAPAS

Morning