Hotel Hispania

After getting cancelled out of a week-long AirBnB apartment rental down the street, we found a nice room at Hotel Hispania. This hotel is centrally located near the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, 1903 Market, Caesar's walls, tower and the bus line. We had a quiet back room off the street with a desk and two comfortable single beds. Wonderful front desk staff who helped us get oriented. Although we were disappointed at not having an apartment with a kitchen, Hotel Hispania offers a 5 Euro per person breakfast every morning in their Aragonian-style dining room. On the menu are espressos and coffees made to order by Elena, fruit juices, yogurts, dry cereals, ham, cheese, all types of breads including crusty local bread and non-gluten. Toppings of jellies and tomato sauce (a local thing) and potato onion pie. We wished they had some sort of eggs - even boiled eggs would have been a good addition. One frustration was our air conditioner stopped working three days before check out. Efforts to repair were unsuccessful and we stayed put, not taking the offer of another room. Too much trouble. Zaragoza is very walkable and we enjoyed tapas at Las Vegas and Mististo in El Tubo, a maze of narrow streets with many other offerings. In that area was Rock and Blues, a great bar offering free live music every night. We ended up there quite often. Caught a professional flamenco ballet production at the Teatro Principal and biked around one day. Bike was rented from an independent rental shop. The ones on the street are not a good choice. Our shop owner got the bikes prepared well and was more lenient about return time. We found a great "cutre" or dive bar south of city central, El Duende Azul, The Blue Goblin. Great prices on drinks and tapas. Love their spicy olives! I had not realized the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar was the national church. Visiting there was a great experience. I attended Catholic Mass, received communion and heard the pipe organ play. An earlier day, my husband and I walked through it and saw confessionals and a baptism taking place. You are still allowed to touch the actual pillar exposed behind the altar area. Very stirring. We visited the Goya museum and I went through The Crystal Rosary church. Both highly recommended.

Buscábamos un hotel a mitad de camino para descansar una noche de un largo viaje en coche. Elegimos este por su buena ubicación, ya que la intención era aprovechar y hacer un poco de turismo ese día sin coger el coche y también por su precio. Eso es lo que obtuvimos, una habitación correcta, muy básica pero con cama cómoda, con 0 vistas ya que daba a un patio interior pero silenciosa. Solicitamos una habitación en los pisos superiores por ver la calle y nos indicaron que estaban completos, nos decepcionó un poco porque habíamos reservado el hotel a primeros de julio para ir en septiembre, pero bueno. El personal, sobre todo el recepcionista de noche es muy amable.

Reservamos con booking indicando que ibamos dos aldutos y un bebe de 8 meses. Como eleccion nos daba a escoger cama doble o dos camar eligimos doble. En ningun momento nos informaron de que no hubiese disponibilidad de cama de matrimonio. Al llegar nos dicen k no hn puesto la cuna porque no habiamos pedido ( no lo ponia en ningun sitio pero ellos ni siquiera fueron para preguntar al ver que iba un bebe como si indican l mayoria de hoteles si se trata de un extra). Y lo peor que no la pueden poner ni aunk paguemos el coste porque se ponen por la mañana ! Y que tampoco nos dan cama de matrimonio para poder poner al bebe entre nosotros ... Y por supuesto como ya ha pasado la fecha de cancelacion no nos devuelven el dinero de la reserva. Eso si la chica de recepcion nos dice que intenta ayudarnos pero sin darnos una sola alternativa .. igual pretendia que el bebe durmiese en el suelo con un comentario precioso de que que esperamos es un hotel de dos estrellas ! Increible no he visto una cosa tan ridicula en mi vida hubiese pagado con mucho gusto los 22 euros que decia que costab extra la cuna por noche pero claro tenia que intuir que un alojamiento acepta 3 pax pensando k solo duermen 2 ... Ah y al preguntar si habia algo para calentar agua para el biberon del niño nos indico que habi un supermercado de chinos cerca ... De tremenda ayuda. Porfavor familias con niños absteneros de ir porque como bien indica su propio personal, que esperais de un dos estrellas!