DAY THREE 18 OCTOBER FRIDAY

0845 and the skies were gray mucky overcast with a nippy 58 degree early morn chill. We opted to have a wash up as hot water did not arrive in room 116 for some reason. Paul said he would complain at checkout. At breakfast we saw our new friends from last evening as we had both ventured about looking for that elusive bar. The plan was to check out and put the suitcases in the car as we planned to attend the raptor display at the park.

 Paul gave the receptionist an earful about the lack of hot water, she said but you should have it in the room, I explained that we are both adults who tried the taps without success!! Oh well we did get a freshen up before heading out though a shower would have been nice. Ironically there was a sign on the countertop in the bathroom which warned that the water war extremely hot for hygienic reasons and to be sure to mix it with cold water! Chance would be a fine thing!

We headed into the natural park area. Jane had her picture taken with the owl Juanito and then as we had about 20 mins before the raptor show off she went down the hill, way down the hill, to perhaps take a picture of a waterfall. We have visited here before with Cheryl, and neither Paul nor I were up for walking long distances taking in the wonders of the waterfalls and pools or climbing innumerable steps and rocky paths. Trust me, the park is quite remarkable and if I could have done it again, I would have but I chose the nearest path and waterfall and off I went. The path was a lot steeper than I remembered and it did cross my mind that coming back up might be a little problematic! However, nothing ventured, nothing gained! It was so quiet and peaceful and quite beautiful. On I soldiered looking at my watch to make sure I had time to get back because Paul would be ticked if I didn’t! The noise of the water grew louder and there it was cascading down in front of me. I dashed forward to take a picture to prove I had been there and then turned and started back up the hill! Damn, that was tough and I barely made it back up in time to meet Paul.

The raptor show is not long, about half an hour so, but it is wonderful. The falconers work with these beautiful birds, hawks and owls and hunters of the night with such skill and all the time explaining (in Spanish of course) about the importance of these magnificent creatures in nature and how they work to protect and conserve them. The birds swoop from one falconer to another, Low, over the heads of the audience. An owl’s wing touched my head, I was honored! Then a huge group of school children arrived, late and noisy! They were reprimanded and told to wait!  They were let in to sit down eventually. Then a falconer swung a lure in a circle and blew a whistle and a hawk appeared, high and on the other side of the park, circling and eventually swooping down and capturing his prize! Love those birds!

We wandered around a bit afterwards and got lots of pictures of the birds on their perches. Then  we hit the road accompanied by a light drizzle. We decide to have a drive through Calatayud as we had never been there and what the hey? We found an ATM and got back on the A2 toward the big Z.

We stopped for Lunch along the way after exploring the city of  Calatayud  , in the town of La Muela and had an usual selection of typical and non-typical Spanish food at the Don Quijote La Meuella Cafeteria:  a healthy salad with a yogurt based dressing and strange red peppers for Jane, Paul has his baked white beans stew, both of us enjoyed a surprising lomo done in a wok with teriyaki sauce with eggplant and other Asian veggies. The food was really outstanding , quick and delicious and really not very expensive!

Back on the road again and arrived at the Reino de Argagon at 5:30 and put the car into the narrow garage underground. We are on the 3^rd floor this time and we watched a small march in support of current events  Barcelona and at almost the same time a counter protest by motorcyclists waving the Spanish flag. Interesting!

We tried calling Bob with no reply so we went walkabout for tapas in el Tubo the old town of Zaragoza. We saw several Army officers all were young and wearing their Dress uniforms. We have since discovered that there was a ceremony Swearing of Allegiance to the Spanish flag. They were so young!

We had not slept very well the night before so we decided an early evening was called for and we headed back to the hotel. At 1000 we finally heard from Bob who came to the lobby so we headed back downstairs for a chat and nightcap.  Plans were made for Saturday and the evening ended late.