Casco Histórico: Zaragoza

This area is traditionally the one of greatest interest for visitors since most of the important ancient monuments and buildings are found here. It includes the old town proper, with its natural extensions to the East, Barrio de la Magdalena to the West, Predicadores (also known as San Pablo or barrio del Gancho), plus the area delineated by Avenida César Augusto and Paseo de María Agustín (where Misericordia bullring stands) with its nearby flea market and the Pignatelli Building, an eighteenth-century hospital containing a church with gilt domes that now houses the Diputación General de Aragón (regional government). On the western end of this area is Aljafería Palace, a castle surrounded by a moat and gardens, and the most important relic of Zaragoza's Islamic period and today the parliament of Aragón. In Predicadores we should mention San Pablo Church, while La Magdalena Church in the neighbourhood of the same name has in its tower one of the finest examples of the Aragonese variety of the mudéjar style (involving brick and coloured tile decoration due to Moorish artisans who stayed long after the Christian conquest). It is in the old town proper, however, where we find the greatest number of important monuments and buildings, beginning with the huge Plaza del Pilar, where the famous and grandiose Basilica del Pilar stands, along with the Lonja Palace, Seo Cathedral, the Roman Forum Museum and, at the opposite end of the square, San Juan de los Panetes Church with its leaning tower, the mudéjar tower of La Zuda and the remains of the Roman wall. Pleasant as it may be to wander among the old town's streets, two parallel ones which cut across it truly make a useful reference point: Don Jaime I, passing near the squares of Santa Marta,Santa Cruz and San Pedro Nolasco, and leading to the Teatro Principal; and Alfonso I, cleared for its view of the Pilar Basilica and from which one can reach San Felipe Square. © WCities