Learning to take my time getting up and going isn’t easy, but since I knew dinner would probably be at 8:00 it made sense to be slow this morning. I didn’t bother with the coffee in the room: it is some sort of instant stuff and I’m just not interested in that. Dan, though, had his decaf.

Eventually we went out, with the intention of getting to the Palacio de la Aljafería.

Right outside our door is the Plaza de Justicia, which caused us to stop and take some photos. We saw several tour groups there as well.

Then we walked down the street and, well how ‘bout that?! … a market. Now we do love markets so we had no choice but to go inside. Tons of stands, with a lot of them selling fish, poultry, and meat. I took a few photos, but wasn’t sure how much they like people to do that after being told in Seville that I should stop.

From there we continued our walk. Seeing this area, the opposite direction of what we did yesterday, I wasn’t as disappointed and decided our two days here won’t be a total bust.

And then we reached our destination. For 1€ each we could enter. Turns out much of the place was so destroyed that it’s been modernized. I didn’t take photos of the clearly very new walls if I could avoid it. I was surprised they repaired it as they did, but perhaps they have no choice.

A Goya exhibit was also there. If I’m understanding what I read online, the Goya Museum might be closed, so I’m thinking this is at the castle for people who do want to see Goya now. (**I later learned this is quite incorrect: the Goya Museum is open!)

Just a small piece of a Goya picture. Just because.

More from the palace.

When we finished with the palace we simply walked across the street for our tapas and water. We were quite satisfied for a whopping price of about $11.50. Yes, that’s for two of us.

Next up was a slow ramble back to our hotel.

We did the obligatory rest time — not that we needed it, of course. Or, um, maybe we did. I slept for 20 minutes.

I had put together a map of five restaurants that might work, so when we went out again we decided to check those out. We went down a close alleyway and took some photos, and then I realized that maybe we first wanted to do the churro and chocolate thing, since the churro place that was the highest rated opened at 5:00 and it was getting close to that time. So off we went. When we reached it, at not quite 5:00, it was already hopping. I guess time is flexible here. We went in and watched what the people were doing to try and figure out how to go about it. Fortunately a woman asked us something in Spanish, we said we only spoke English, and she explained that she was asking if we were at the end of the line and that that is what we were to do. Then, when I said what we wanted to order, she helped me with that as well, so when the time came for us to place our order I almost got it right! “Dos chocolate.” And then something that meant half a dozen churros (don’t worry, they are skinny and small things.) They were quite yummy, and a great way to tide us over until our later dinner.

We started to look for the dinner places, got to one, and realized that we needed to find our way to the bridge that allows us to see the river and church to take some photos. So off we went. First we ended up in a plaza with a museum and church.

Then it was the bridge. And it was quite lovely.

Eventually lights on the bridge came on as well. Beautiful!

After spending time with cameras (Dan with his Fuji, me with the iPhone) we went back on our dinner surveying, first heading through the Christmas market.

Four restaurants and very cold hands later we settled on La Flor di Lis. I attempted to make a 7:00 reservation but the darn thing wasn’t working so we just walked back to see if we could get in. We were told we could be seated as long as we were done by 8:30. No problem! And dinner was lovely. At one point Dan looked two tables over and noticed the couple we met yesterday, Sharon and Bill. What a coincidence! We didn’t really chat, but it was fun to see them.

Just a few shots from the restaurant since I forgot, at first, to use the camera:

Then it was a quick walk to the hotel and, for me, a shower to be sure I can sleep. Or at least so I can hope to sleep.

The view from our room at night:

Tomorrow is our final full day here. I think it will be church visits and, most likely, at least one museum visit. Zaragoza has turned out to be a very fun city, and one that not as many tourists go to.