Aljaferia Palace - Zaragoza, Spain

Dear Family and Friends,

Today we went to what looked like a castle.  It was built (some parts remaining) in the 9th century.  It was originally an Islamic palace.  I didn't realize the Moors were this far north, but they were.

We saw some beautiful Moorish architecture when we were traveling Spain last fall with Clarke and Brenda.  This palace pales in comparison to what we saw then, but it was an enjoyable visit and brought back fond memories of our previous trip to Spain.

The fortifications were added after the Moors were gone.  It became the palace of the King and Queen of Spain in the 1400's....King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.  It seems that this famous pair traveled all over Spain.  They even lived in the beautiful palace that we saw in Seville last October.

It even has a huge trench which was the protective moat.

As in our previous visits, I was most fascinated by the Moorish architecture.

Here is Chuck entering the courtyard.  Notice the beautiful scalloped arches.

Beautiful courtyard lined in Orange trees.

It had rained all morning and we were glad it cleared up so we could visit this beautiful palace before we had to leave.

Clarke and Brennie,  remember these???  These are huge bulls that appear along the highway every once and awhile.  We saw many of them in southern Spain, and were glad when we ran into one the other day as we were driving along the freeway.

Chuck rented us a delightful apartment that we will be living in for the next week.  We are really looking forward to hanging our hats in one place for awhile.  Nothing could be better than hanging our hats in Barcelona.

Here is our map so far.

Love,
Nancy