The official opening of the tromp d'oeil

Thézan has two Tromp d'oeils (essentially three dimensional wall murals). The second, which is a minute away from us is the more recent and came fifth out of 96 contenders in a Tromp d'oeil competition (I'm not joking!), so naturally, this had to be celebrated. At the same time, we were told that the recipe for the village cake, pastesa was to be unveiled.

When I went down to the boulongerie for today's baguette, La Pastesa, was on show, so we had some for breakfast.

The ceremony was due to start at 10.30, so we left the house in good time in order not to miss the excitement. Events here never start on time unless seating for a meal is unreserved when people arrive early to grab their places.

10.28 We leave the house
10.29 We arrived at the Placette de Rulladou




This is the mural which shows a village scene very close by.

This which shows the route to the real archway shown in the mural. It isn't possible to see both at the same time.




This is the real archway




Here you can see the real clock tower and also the clock tower in the mural




Two little boys are hiding in the shadows, the identity of the boys is known. Both are dead now, but their family is here at the ceremony. This shows them more clearly




10.30 The Elus (essentially the village's elected councillors) were present together with the person who was to officially cut the ribbon to inaugurate the Tromp d'Oeil.





10.37 The ribbon arrives
10.39 The cake arrives under police guard.
10.40 The pizza arrives (by now we were guessing that a bun fight would follow)
10.41 The mayor arrives
10.43 Two little girls install the ribbon





10.45 A microphone appears
10.48 We all move back so that photos of the crowd can be taken for the Midi Libre newspaper.



10.50 The speeches start
11.00 The cutting of the ribbon (the little girls have been holding the ribbon all this time and are too far away to have heard the speeches). The mayor and some Elus are in the photo together with the family of the little boys. I think that the little girl on the left holding the ribbon is also family.





11.05 Photos are taken of the families beside the mural
11.07 We are all invited to the bun fight at the school which is 20 seconds walk away
11.10 The cake speech and signing of the cake document





It seems that tourists to the village have been demanding something that's typically Thezanaise. All the villages around here have their own version of a cake called La Pastésa, which is typically eaten at Easter. There has not been an official recipe before, but many families have their own version. The Mairie have collected together the various versions and reached a consensus with the help of the local baker. The cake was available for the first time today. The Elus signed a document that accepted the recipe as the official Pastésa of Thézan and bound the boulanger to keep secret the recipe..




and we all got a piece





11.15 Cake eating and aperos begin





Finally, the official portrait with the village badge.





So that was the excitement of the day and the first village apero of the year; time to go home.




Pat and John at home

Last day in Zaragoza

When we booked our apartment, we had read mixed reviews about the noise from the square. The clock chimes every 15 minutes during the day, but only once an hour at night. During the day, the hustle and bustle of the plaza is fine, but at 4am, it is more of a problem. Perhaps it's the bars closing but there is plenty of disturbance from groups of people. The noise just seems to bounce off the buildings and arrive through the apartment's metal shutters and double glazed windows. The people are followed by a street cleaner, which is, at least, quieter.

Having noticed the difficulty of photographing the wall of the cathedral in the plaza, John rushed out before breakfast to record the sun falling on the walls.
It was rebuilt starting in 1316 and is a world heritage building (we seem to have been ticking them off recently)





This is a detail that we prepared earlier



After breakfast, we set out with a list of things to see, with the Cathedral first. This is much more impressive than the basilica nearby. Rather than being a unified church it was made up of two dozen chapels dating from the 15th century. The impressive alter piece below was created in 1434.




This is the Chapel of the Archangels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael from the end of the 16th century



The Cathedral is also home to a museum of tapestries. Pat is always interested to see needlework and so we went up the the museum to browse. We had not realised just how special this collection is. The collection comprises 63 tapestries and the first reference to the collection was in 1499. Less than half of the collection is on display and so far, only 3 have been restored. It really is well worth a visit.



We particularly liked this scene of the devil tied up - a detail from a large tapestry of the crucifixion and resurrection. Christ is carrying the flag of St George and the black area is John's cap hiding the camera from the security cameras.




Our next stop was the first century roman amphitheatre of Caesar Augustus which was discovered in 1972 while excavating for a new building. All the marble has long gone, incorporated into other buildings over the centuries, but the essential structure still exists.

Naturally, there is a museum to go with it.





The amphitheatre reminded us very much of Orange.



You can see here just how close modern buildings are to the amphitheatre and how the road level has risen over 2000 years.




A number of other roman remains have been discovered since 1972, a baths and a forum, which is right next the the Cathedral. We tried to visit the baths, but they were closed.

Our next stop was the Islamic palace of Aljafería built in the 11th century. We were only able to see it from the outside, and even that was not easy. It has a large moat and is guarded - something was obviously going on as there was a crowd around the car access gate.










Our final stop of the day was about 2km away at the Parque Grande José Antonio Labordeta. We walked along main streets with trams in more modern areas that we had not seen before. By the time we reached the park, we were tired and were planning to take the tram back as far as we could.

The park was busy with people sitting in the sun and groups of children being taken out.

At the far end if the park is a statue with steps up to it and water around, reminiscent of Tivoli.

As we approached the first fountain, it sprang into life, quickly followed by the second fountain. The water was not coloured blue - the fountain in shade is just picking up the blue of the evening sky.





John climbed to the top to take a photo in the other direction





We hopped on a tram to the Grand Via








And passed this very interesting post box.





We called into a larger El Corte Ingles and found a few difficult-to-find things that Pat was searching for and then headed for home, passing the Museo Pablo Gargallo on the way





In the evening, we went for a last visit to our tapas bar which was full, as usual.



and enjoyed a couple of perfect dishes, of which this was one, the Iberian Ham plate, delicious.





Pat and John on tour

Rainy day

We woke up to rain, as had been predicted.

Our apartment is just around the corner from the main Hotel, Hotel Sauce, and that is where we breakfast. A jovial lady provides a good buffet of fruit, ham and cheese, pastries and pan con tomato with fresh orange juice and good coffee.

After we had eaten, we called into the art gallery, the Museo Ibercaja Camón Anzar, which is between our apartment and the hotel, so just a few steps away. There they had a retrospective of Pilar Moré and we sneaked a photo which is part of a large work, say 5 x 6 feet. We particularly likes some of his painting on corrugated cardboard.




there was also a good collection of Goya who lived in Zaragoza in the 18th century. We saw the painting below but were unable to photograph the original as there was a security guard patrolling next to him. The photo is of a poster outside the museum. Taking photos in museums and churches seems to be standard, I guess to stop flash.


Goya also features on a mural on the back of the museum which we can see easily from out terrace.



The building itself is impressive, it was a renaissance palace dating back to 1551, we though that snapping that was OK.



Clearly, it was going to be an indoor day, so we wandered into the shopping area and into a department store, El Corte Ingles, where we stopped for a cup of tea, which unexpectedly came with toast, and then shopped for a while.

In the evening we returned to the same tapas bar as the previous evening. There were many more people, including an English family whose daughter was living in Zaragoza on a Erasmus Scholarship.

This was one of the dishes we chose, squid with Iberian ham and padron peppers with some octopus thrown in for good luck.




On our way home we wandered around and discovered the ornate wall of the Cathedral, La Seo. Lit by sodium light we would have to return the next day to be able to photograph it properly.


Pat and John on tour

Zaragoza

We left our hotel in Malaga at 7am and breakfasted in the station before getting on our AVE, high speed train to Zaragoza.




The journey takes 4 hours and passes through olive groves and fruit farms countryside for most of the way. The cherry trees were just about to flower giving the countryside large patches of pink and purple.

In Zaragoza, we took a taxi from the modern railway station to our hotel. We had rented a small apartment, but had been upgraded to a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment with a view of the Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Pilar. There is a legend that Mary standing on a pillar appeared to a first century Spanish Saint. The Plaza (a very long rectangular) in front of the Basilica is very large in deed. There is a clock which chimes on the quarter hour and never goes off duty, unlike our village clocks which don't chime during the night.




After a rest, we set out in search of food and for a wander around the immediate vicinity.
We called into the Basilica, which is impressively huge but not inspiring








Also in the Plaza is the Catedral de la Seo, two cathedrals on the same site must be quite unusual




Close by is the old bridge, Puente de Piedra across the river, Rio Ebro




which is guarded by lions




and from which, there is a good view of the Basilica





At the other end of the Plaza is the Iglesias de San Juan de Los Panetes with its slightly leaning tower and roman ruins close by




We set off in search of the 'Tapas area', El Tubo, as described by the hotel receptionist. On the way, we passed a wine shop, where we purchased a few bottles of the region (appellations Cariñena & Campo de Borja) and encountered the children pouring out of school, all obviously starving and chatting loudly to their mums.

We also found the shopping area which is in chaos - the streets are being dug up to install trams. They seem to be using the 'big bang' approach with maximum disruption, hopefully for a shorter time.
On our way back we passed another interesting church, Iglesias de San Pablo




By now, it was time for another rest, followed by the blog and a glass of wine before searching Trip Advisor for a restaurant. Perhaps Zaragoza doesn't have a large tourist trade, but certainly, the number of reviews was not encouraging.

We set out and fell on our feet!

The Donde Simpera is just a bar with 3 bar stools, a narrow bar and fantastic food.




We tried a couple of dishes from the counter, but John had spotted bunches of fresh asparagus. There was none on the menu, but on request, this was what arrived:




Roasted asparagus, padron peppers and Iberian ham. Delicious!
We wandered back home, taking photos as we passed. This is The Museo Pablo Gargallo right next door to the Tapas Bar.




El Tubo is full of bars in narrow streets which shows just how narrow it can be




and views of the Basilica




from a shopping street and from the Puente de Piedra





Pat and John on tour