Zaragoza is a city of brick. In the centuries after the Christian conquest of 1118, the Muslim craftsmen who remained and their descendants, the Mudéjars, built churches and towers across Aragon using brick, glazed tile and decorative patterns of geometric inlay, and the result is a style found nowhere else. In Zaragoza the brick apses and towers of the old churches, with their blind arcades and zigzag courses, are the best examples, and the Mudéjar architecture of Aragon is a World Heritage listing, first awarded in 1986 and extended in 2001. The apse at this stop is a piece of that heritage.
The city lies on the Ebro, in a wide, dry basin between the Pyrenees and the Iberian mountains, and it was Roman Caesaraugusta before it was a Moorish capital. The great Basilica of the Pilar, with its tiled domes, stands beside the river and draws pilgrims from all over Spain, and the Aljafería, an eleventh-century Moorish palace, has some of the most beautiful stuccowork in the country. Goya, born in a village not far to the south, is the city's artistic hero, and the museum named after him is worth a visit.
Riding in Zaragoza means contending with the cierzo, a cold, dry wind that blows from the north-west down the Ebro valley and can reach gale force, especially in winter and spring. On a motorcycle it is a presence to respect, pushing the bike sideways on bridges and open stretches. The surrounding country is flat and steppe-like, and the roads are straight and fast, so the real pleasure is the contrast with the mountains a couple of hours north or south. The old centre is a maze of one-way streets, with trams and cobbles in places.
With over six hundred and seventy thousand people, Zaragoza has fuel, parking and every service. The tapas district around El Tubo is the best place to eat, with small bars specialising in fried mushrooms, garlic prawns, and local ham and sausage. Try a slice of fruta de Aragón, candied fruit covered in chocolate, as a sweet souvenir.
The ride links the Mudéjar apse with the painted shelter known as Arqueros Negros, the Black Archers, which belongs to a very different, much older Aragon.