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.

So disappointing when we arrived . Sadly the reception staff were very mixed in their attitude and helpfulness. The lady on check out was lovely, some of the others , could. It have been more unwelcoming. We were on 5th floor , it needed updating , bare walls , the bathroom had a bath no screen or curtain so water went every where. The bath needed replacing and the grouting appalling . The ceiling tiles were a false ceiling and plaster was falling off the wall near one of the skirting Boards. On a positive side, the bed was hard but it was ok The breakfast was what finally broke me . I thought it was the usual choice of cereals , breads croissants etc, but no you could choose bread or a croissant, or cereals and possibly an omelette, but we were not offered anything hot. The toast came with the small plastic container with butter and jam. One female member of staff taking orders and serving and running around the hotel serving to rooms. What a complete waste of time. It was the worst breakfast I have ever had. I had a glass of water with mine. And had to ask for another to take a tablet . Come on, just lay a table and let people help themselves. The hotel have been told about these issues time and time again it seems and I am not even sure they read the reviews . Disliked · Everything apart from the view of the Church. I would never stay there again. Apart from walking from the car park with all our bags with the usual urine smell corridors in the car park and. 16 euros charge. If it had been England I would have demanded a refund . There were plenty of hotels at same price.