A brief hith-tory of Tharagotha

One of the main streets in Zaragoza is Avenida César Augusto. At the top of the street is Plaza César Augusto, with a statue of the great man standing beside some remains of an old Roman fortification. He is named on a plaque as the founder of the town of Caesaraugusta in 14BC.

Try saying "Caesaraugusta" with a lisp. Now you see where the modern pronunciation of Zaragoza comes from. (In Spanish, the letter z is pronounced like the "th" in "thing".)

After the fall of the Roman Empire the town was conquered successively by Goths and Muthlims. But enough hithtory. Thorry!

On a stroll around the town last night I noticed two differences from my last – very brief – visit here three years ago: the prices have gone up considerably (though they're still reasonable); restaurants and bars are mostly closed at 11pm.  I suspect both these phenomena are linked with la crisis.