The Road from Santiago

  This is now a familiar story.  A road, the broad fields of the Ebro valley to the south and west and development nuzzling up to the higher, less profitable land.  After a the usual big white cubes we enter El Pueblo de Alfindén.  The place has 6500 inhabitants who dwell in an area which has grown out of the narrow road which must have been hell to go down at busy times before the bypass.  The mid nineteenth century Geographical-Statistical-Historical Dictionary says of it: PUEBLA DE ALFINDEN: l. with town hall of the province, Jewish part., aud. terr. and diocese of Zaragoza (2 leg.), cg of Aragon: situated on flat land; it is more frequently hit by winds from the E. and W.; its climate is variable and prone to intermittent storms. It has 140 houses , those of the town hall and prison; a boys' school, attended by 60, endowed with 2,000 rs.; another for girls attended by 17 and 100 rs. of endowment; a parr. church dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption, and...

  How I plan the route is having a big map with a general direction.  Each day I move the end marker on about 3.6km.  Sometimes I find the next day I seem to have to go back on myself.  I like to think that this is a bit of realism in the matrix.  Sometimes, I take a wrong turn.  Today I seem to be going out of my way, leaving the N2 and then going back. The N-2 is one of the great roads of Iberia. It begins in Madrid, sweeps north and eastwards to Zaragoza and thence to Barcelona and then the French border.  It is 790km long and got its N-2 designation in the 1940s.  Alas, it has been motorwayed and only 266km is still a good, solid A-Road.  I know, you want to know about the N-1.  It goes from Madrid to the French border, but unlike the N-2 which goes to the eastern Pyrenees, the N-1 goes to Irun in the west. Back on the road we come across one of those typical major road restaurants.  It is big and has a splendid view of the road...

  Once upon a time I read an article in New Scientist.  In it it explained how areas die.  The fundamental idea was, if you reduce access to a single point the place loses vitality.  This may be seen in some South London estates, which had a major road reducing the entrance to a single underpass.  Likewise the Jewish ghetto in Venice may physically be near the centre but was difficult to get to. I say all this, not, because the suburb of Santa Isabel is dying but has a feel of an island.  We begin by crossing the Rio Gallego and find the suburb divided by the Z-40, A-2 and N-II, all being pretty nifty autobahns.   Santa Isabel has that suburban feeling.  We have a scattering of older houses; new high rises and a slow development of lower rise, gardened villas.  14000 people live here. It got a lot of redevelopment as a result of Expo2008.   I was intrigued by Christian Peluqueros.  It is highly thought of.  It opens ...

  It is a day where we follow one of those typical new build roads out of town.  Straight and righteous, it begins well appointed. Spreads into the functional and ends with a slowly more scattered collection of old houses and great blocks of flats.  But first, a bridge. The Puente de Piedra is a 15th century stone bridge.  8240 people have reviewed it.  Three days ago, Diego wrote ‘Magical Zaragoza!! And the Stone Bridge, an architectural icon that connects the banks of the Ebro to access the old town and enjoy the views.’   Josep took advantage of the bridge to write his blast against the city.  ‘ZARAGOZA IS FULL OF THIEVES, STOLEN BICYCLES. A VISIT IS NOT ADVISABLE.’   Lets call into the Bar Muel, if for no other reason than its 2.6 stars from 12 reviews.  Martin was not impressed ‘It is unpleasant that the owner Sofia, attends with her cell phone in her hand, all the time, is unable to "Say hello, say thank you" in addition to seeing ...

  We are heading back into downtown Zaragoza,  The current population is about 675,000 - making it the Coventry of Spain.  It is vying to be the 4th city of the country and the 26th of the EU.  Luckily it is February.  If we are lucky it will be the  average of 13.4 oC and not be the one in seven days it rains.  We went in July.  We had no air conditioning - cos of being in economy mode.  It was HOT! Having ambled back over the Enro we are passing a Lidl.  It opens 9am to 9.30pm every day but sunday.  Five days ago Jeong was thoughtful in a four star sort of way.  ‘Even though they don't have a wide variety of products, there are many hotels where you can stay as part of a package, so I recommend a supermarket that's good to go to quickly in the evening!!  For reference, lidi and Carrefour are supermarkets similar to Europe's E-Mart and Homeplus.’ Even better than Lidl is a hardware shop and Baiz is just down the road....

  We are about turn north and head back for the river.  Why are we doing this?  Why the devil not!  Actually, it is all to do with Expo 2008.  By complete accident we were in Zaragoza during Expo.  Our connection with it was accidental and fortunate and mostly swimming based. Bidding for the Expo began in 2008.  Awarded in December 2004, the whole thing opened on 14th June 2008/  The theme was water and sustainable development.  We went looking for the swimming pool, fed by the Ebro and a welcome break from the heat.  The pure joy of the discovery of swimming in one of the many local pools had been revealed to us on this trip and repeated at every opportunity since,  First, we have to get there. The Teatro de las Esquinas is on our  right  Described as LGBTQ+ friendly, https://www.teatrodelasesquinas.com/   There is nothing on today.  Yesterday was A Movie Mother with Toni Acosta.  https://www.teatrodelasesq...