Zaragoza · ES
Zaragoza: Pilar & Old Town Highlights
From the great bridge over the Ebro to the mighty Basílica del Pilar, two cathedrals and the Roman city of Caesaraugusta buried beneath your feet.
What's the walk about?
Welcome to Zaragoza, the proud capital of Aragón and one of the oldest cities in Spain, where Romans, Moors, Jews and Christians each left their mark along the banks of the mighty Ebro river. On this gentle loop through the old town we cross a grand medieval bridge, stand in the enormous square before the Basílica del Pilar, one of the holiest shrines in the Spanish-speaking world, and visit not one but two cathedrals. We will descend into the Roman city of Caesaraugusta that lies buried beneath the streets, and finish among the tapas bars and markets where modern Zaragoza eats and drinks. Often overlooked by foreign visitors, this is a city of real depth and warmth, so let us discover it together.
What you'll see
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1
Puente de Piedra
Bridge
A graceful fifteenth-century stone bridge across the broad Ebro river, guarded at each end by bronze lions, offering the classic postcard view of the Basílica del Pilar's domes and towers.
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2
Basílica del Pilar
Basilica
An immense Baroque basilica crowned by eleven coloured domes, built on the spot where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to Saint James on a pillar, making it one of Christianity's oldest Marian shrines.
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3
Fuente de la Hispanidad
Fountain
A striking modern fountain at the end of the Plaza del Pilar, whose cascading water is shaped to form a giant relief map of Latin America, celebrating the shared heritage of the Spanish-speaking world.
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4
La Lonja
Monument
Zaragoza's finest Renaissance building, a sixteenth-century merchant exchange whose plain brick exterior hides a magnificent hall of soaring, decorated columns, now used for art exhibitions.
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5
La Seo
Cathedral
Zaragoza's original cathedral, built over the Roman forum and the main mosque, blending Romanesque, Gothic, Mudéjar and Baroque, with a dazzling wall of patterned brick and tile in the Mudéjar style.
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6
Museo del Foro de Caesaraugusta
Museum
An underground museum beneath the cathedral square, displaying the excavated forum of Roman Caesaraugusta, the shops, sewers and marketplace at the civic heart of the city Augustus founded.
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7
Teatro Romano de Caesaraugusta
Roman Theatre
The dramatic remains of a great Roman theatre that once seated six thousand spectators, lost for centuries beneath later buildings and only rediscovered in 1972, now the centrepiece of its own museum.
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8
Plaza de España
Square
The busy modern crossroads of Zaragoza, where the old town meets the grand nineteenth-century shopping avenue, framed by elegant buildings and a monument to the heroic sieges of the city.
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9
El Tubo
District
A dense, atmospheric warren of narrow lanes in the old town, crammed with traditional tapas bars and taverns, the beating heart of Zaragoza's famously sociable eating and drinking scene.
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10
Mercado Central
Market
A beautiful modernist market hall of iron and glass from 1903, standing beside the Roman walls, where the people of Zaragoza have shopped for fresh produce for over a century.
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