It's our last day here. In fact, the Lisbon Loop is drawing very swiftly and palpably to a close. Tomorrow night will be our last in Spain.

Every day we've been in Zaragoza we've walked by the Ebro River, and today was no exception. There are good tracks, with contrasting views of the old and the new, and they're hugely popular with locals.

River scenes:





Then, after cafe con leche and REALLY nice napolitanas de chocolate (a close relation to the petit pain au chocolat), we tackled the Goya Museum.


We'd come across Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) already on this trip: in the Museo del Romanticismo in Madrid, and in the Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Pilar here in Zaragoza, the city where Goya began his studies, and produced some of his early work. The Goya Museum, set in what was once a 16th-century nobleman's house, seemed the logical next step.


There's a section on Goya's precursors (Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque), a hall with a small collection of his paintings, a large collection of his engravings, and an extensive gallery of work by other artists influenced by him to a greater or lesser degree.



The short video introduction explains how Goya changed the way we see. And, indeed, his work does clearly point forward to Romanticism, Impressionism, and more modern schools still.

I was struck by the great diversity of his work. In some canvases, he paints incredibly realistic portraits, with faces that really seem to convey the subject's character. In others, the painting is all hints and impressions and suggestions. The calm portraits and fervent religious pieces contrast with the tension and confusion of the scenes of war (and although we didn't see them in the gallery, the video also highlighted the "Black Paintings", disturbing images produced during his 70s).

The five series of engravings are also very disparate. The Caprices offer biting social satire (and, as is often the case with works seeking to "improve" othervpeople, they are sometimes more cruel than compassionate). The Disasters of War series is nothing if not hard-hitting, graphically portraying the myriad types of violence that war can engender. The Follies are odd, enigmatic works, full of coded and symbolic references. Then there are two series on bull-fighting, in which Goya was very interested.

Today, it turned out, was a holiday in Zaragoza (we never know these things...). The Fiesta de la Cincomarzada commemorates the heroic resistance put up by the Zaragoza people in response to the invasion, on 5 March 1838, by Carlist forces (who supported an alternative branch of the Bourbon dynasty).

Because of the festival, the Goya Museum was free. So we saved ourselves EUR 12... Go the resisters...