After a long and sweet break in Barcelona, I hit the road again. The first destination of my Iberian adventure was Zaragoza. To be exact, it was a very small town in the North of Zaragoza, Leciñena, with about one thousand habitants. In part, I was drawn to the unique hostel there. It was inside the 800-year-old sanctuary on the top of a hill. Being so old, the place has a long and complicated history. To the extent that I understood, the place was initially involved with the local apparition of Maria, was used as a hospital to treat tuberculosis, and was involved with the Spanish civil war. Decades ago, the local community restored the physical damages and also accommodated a hostel inside.
Around the hill, were there endless deserts. The guy at the hostel told me that there had been more rain than usual recently, which supported more plants. When there was no car approaching the hill, I could experience the total quietness. I was looking at the horizon mindlessly for hours while occasionally feeling grateful that I could afford this peaceful experience.
Just before I drove away from the town, I flew my drone briefly to have a perspective from the sky. It was right when it took off, a police car appeared at the top of the hill. One of the two policemen gave me lots of looks and finally came next to me while looking at the screen. Naturally, I was uncomfortable about what was happening, although I knew I followed the regulations. It turned out that he was just curious about drones. And he seemed happy when I answered his technical questions. We even took a picture together. When he gave me a typical Spanish warm goodbye as I drove off, I saw a sweet middle-aged Spanish guy, not a policeman!
@ Albergue Santuario Nuestra Señora de Magallón, Leciñena, Spain, November 4, 2018
