Tarragona - Catalonia´s Roman beauty

Bon día,

First of all I have toI know, it´s been a while since the last time I updated my blog, but too much is going on and I have been a bit busy during the last days. But here I am now.

Two weeks ago, I visited Tarragona, a small city about an hour down the coast starting from Barcelona. For those kind of day trips, taking the renfe is really a good option to travel, since it is definitely affordable (to Tarragona it was 7€ one-way). And public transport in general is pretty reasonable compared to Germany.

Amazing view through the Old Town on a beautiful day

Tarragona had its glory days back around Christ´s time, between 200 BC and 200 AD, where it was known as Tarraco. Back then, it was the capital of the Roman province Hispania citerior, or later known as Tarraconensis.

Spanish map during Roman times

Remainings of those times can still be seen in Tarragona today. Just by walking through the narrow streets of the old part of Tarragona, one can see amazing relicts of ancient times, and their beauty will surely leave you speechless. Ok, maybe I was a bit biased, since the weather was incredible and the sun put everything in grace, but still Tarragona is definitely worth a day-trip.

The amifiteatre romá. Unfortuately you have to pay to enter,
like it is for every place in Spain (at least it seems like)

Pretori romá in the upper right side

The place in front of the Torre del Pretori, where people where waiting for the easter ceremony

Narrow streets drawing their way through the old town.0

Fortunately, during the time I went to Tarragona I was able to see their typical Easter ceremony. While walking through the streets I caught myself wondering, where all the youngstes were, because you literally couldn´t see anybody between the age of 10 and 20. After a while, I found the answer: everybody was preparing for the ceremony.

The cathedral of Tarragona

Close-up

Another astonishing relict of Roman times is the Devil´s bridge, which used to be an aqueduct. I was lucky, because it had just recently reopened, so it was possible to walk on a man-made bridge older then 2 thousand years (before it was closed due to a suicidal act...). When I think about the fact, that this bridge was already standing there when Jesus Christ was born and it will probably also survive the next millenium, I can only step back, say "chapeau" and acknowledge what humans are capable of.

In front of the aqueduct with Zuza, a new-made friend from Poland

El Aqüeducte de les Ferreres, or "Pont del Diable" (Devil´s bridge)

 Finally to sum up, a little advice. If you ever go to Spain and see one of those beautiful orange trees in the city: DO NOT try to eat them :-) I do not honestly think that they are poisonous, but much too sour to be edible :-)

Delusive beauty

In this sense, see you next time.

Hasta ahora!