Tarraco

Since I've recently changed the blog settings from "private" to "public", it's no longer impossible for my writings to reach a readership that includes other followers than me and myself. That's why I've once again decided to (try to) write this blog in English. It remains to be seen whether this decision will last or not, but as for today, in English it goes...

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During the Easter weekend, Elisabet and me went to Tarragona, a city that some 2,000 years ago was capital of the Spanish provinces of the Roman Empire. Its Latin name was Tarraco and as you might imagine, lots of buildings and monuments were built by the Romans there. Time has not been kind to most of them, nor have the later inhabitants, but some structures even today are in quite a good shape. Or at least the corresponding ruins are.

On Good Friday though, our sightseeing tour was somehow complicated by an uncountable number of religious motivated processions. I considered them an interesting detail at the beginning but they soon turned into a nuisance that permanently interfered with our tourist route.

The Ku Klux Klan really knows what makes a good party

Anyway, we stuck to our plan to get to see as much as possible of the Roman remains within walking distance. After quickly exploring the Rambla Nova we passed by the Amphitheater which lies close to the coastline.

Just to the right, there's the Mediterranean Sea

NOTE: An amphitheatre is a stage, totally enclosed by a circular tribune as opposed to a (plain) theater, which is the kind of stage commonly used nowadays.

Amphitheatre

I doubt that any better places existed within the boundaries of the Roman Empire to shed a gladiator's blood, and I only can imagine the honour to die in such a beautiful place after fiercly having fought against wild animals or professional colleagues. The ruins in the middle of this colloseum are those from a later, medieval church, constructed to honour christian bishop Saint Fructuosus who found death there during a public execution.

Pigeons seem to be a serious plague there

On we went to the remains of a part of the circus, a rather big oval construct, similar to the Circus Maximus in Rome, where the races took place. Just above the circus, there was the Forum, which consisted of two places, surrounded by columns and statues. I think that one place was for clerical issues, while on the other political meetings took place. Not much of neither of them is left though.

Then we just continued strolling through the city center and repeatedly encountered parts of both, the circus and the ancient city walls.

Dinner was nice! We had found a bar close to the Plaça del Forum, where fair prized tapas were served. Since we had to eat seated at the bar, we soon established contact not only with our neighbours (Genara and Max from Barcelona), but also with the head of the whole business, who persistently insisted to invite us to colourful, distilled drinks. Together with Max and Genara we then went to a church where the showdown of all that procession business was about to take place: after a carriage was transported into the church, the bishop spoke two or three words and that was it. Honestly, I have to admit , I found it a little disappointing, because not even a minor miracle took place.

Next day we had to move our car weren't we willing to spend a fortune on parking tickets. This provided us with a nice excuse to explore Tarragona's outbacks as for example the city of Reus. Famous architect Antoni Gaudí is from Reus and an important number of Modernism-style buildings can be found there. During our walk through the surrounding areas we were astonished of Reus' ugliness, but at least we found a restaurant where very good down to earth lunch was served. After having found our access to the city center, we soon discovered that Reus isn't ugly at all. Especially the plaza in front of the city hall was very nice, although by no means was it the only nice place there.

On our way back to Tarragona we went straight to the port, a suburb called Serrallo. There we wandered around and even visited two art galleries. In the first one, an exhibition of drawings of Japanese artist Kenji Yokoyama offered colourful views I didn't understand at all. The second exhibition I liked better. Drawings of several local artists were at display. In one, I immediately recognized a place we had visited the day before.

At the balcony of Rambla Nova

Apart from the galleries, there is the rest of the promenade which offers a nice place for  just walking around and also the bars and restaurants are worth mentioning, even if we didn't make any use of them. Furthermore sun and clouds joined forces in order to offer us a truly dramatic scenery.

Back in the center we went straight to the remains of the circus in order to visit them. As we were able not only to get on top of an old tower but also to stroll around in the catacombs, I really liked what I saw.

Old stuff made of stone

Some walking led us to a cathedral with an accessible cloister and a beautiful, quiet atrium. For dinner we found another nice bar. Unlike in Manresa and surroundings, the Tarragonian feeding-establishments didn't give us the impression of wanting to totally rip us off. I really wonder why that is, since I expected this issue to be even worse in a city full of tourists. 





Sunday was our last day in Tarragona. After breakfast we visited the archaeological Museum where lots of findings such as Roman every day's items, statues, mosaics and a part of the city walls are at display. It's, by the way, Catalonia's oldest archaeological Museum.

A mosaic of the Medusa

Before driving home we wanted to see a very well conserved Roman Aqueduct, some 8km outside the city. It's colloquially called Devil's Bridge, although it's true name is Aqüeducte de les Ferreres. By the way: another Devil's Bridge exists in Catalonia, and it also dates back on the Roman Era.

I was amazed that it's allowed to cross the aqueduct and in my opinion, the place is a must go when talking about tourism near Tarragona.

A pretty cool Easter Weekend it was.