VEGETABLE GARDEN ROUTE

This agro-system was developed extensively by the Arabs. To find the most beautiful legacy of the Taifa of Saraqusta, we begin our route at the 11th-century Aljafería Palace, considered one of the high points of Hispano-Muslim art, the most luxurious and best preserved specimen of the palaces of the taifa period and the northernmost built in Europe.

Don’t miss a visit to Aljafería Palace, the current seat of the Regional Assembly of Aragón, where you can admire the legacy of Mudejar architecture in Aragón, which was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2001. At one of the nearby restaurants you can sample, for example, authentic fritada Aragonesa, a dish made exclusively with local vegetables.

Our route continues through another area of the city, where we can visit other buildings whose silhouettes make up the 21st-century skyline of Zaragoza, and which are also the venues for an intense cultural calendar: IAACC Pablo Serrano and the Caixa Forum Cultural Centre.

Not far away is the Romareda district, where you will find the football stadium and Zaragoza Auditorium, which has an excellent cultural and music calendar. This area is also home to the second Michelin star awarded to the Aragonese capital. Quite nearby, in the university district, is Plaza San Francisco, presided over by the statue of King Ferdinand the Catholic, the architect behind the uniting of the Crown of Aragon with the Kingdom of Castile.

Throughout this route, one of the culinary stars, virtually unknown in the rest of the peninsula, is borage, which together with Aragón ternasco (lamb), is the hallmark of Aragonese cuisine. 

But the vegetable gardens of Aragón are not populated by borage alone, the variety of products in every season is so extensive that many restaurants devote single-themed culinary days to Zaragoza’s garden produce: artichokes, cardoons, cabbage and spinach, lettuce, curly endive, peppers, courgettes, onions, garlic, tomatoes—from Zaragoza and Barbastro—beans, aubergines … the catalogue is vast. And what better way to become familiar with it than strolling through any of the municipal markets or visiting the Agroecological Market held every Saturday in Plaza del Pilar, adding to the many tourist attractions found there: the two cathedrals—Pilar and Salvador—the former Merchants Market, today the exhibition hall; Alma Máter Museum; the Real Maestranza de Caballería Bullring; and the Goya Museum Ibercaja Collection, with a complete collection of engravings by the artist Francisco de Goya.

At any of the restaurants along the Vegetable Garden Route, don’t forget to sample wines from one of the three designations of origin in Zaragoza— Calatayud, Campo de Borja and Cariñena—or a beer from the century-old Aragonese brewery, among the few independents in Spain.

Zaragoza is sure to captivate you with its flavours, aromas and wonderful produce: the huerta Zaragozana!