Tarragona Trip

During our stay in Barcelona, we took three trips to other parts of Spain. This installment of our blog will give you a little feel for our excursion to Tarragona. Later we will share trips to Madrid and up the northern coast of Spain.

In October we rented a car and went down the coast from Barcelona to an ancient Roman town – Tarragona.

Remains of the Roman Amphitheater Overlooking the Med

The city was originally settled by the Romans in the second century BCE and was a major trading venue for several centuries. Today there are just over 100,000 people who live in this lovely city right on the edge of the Mediterranean.

The city is typically Spanish and on the beautiful Mediterranean coast,

but what sets it off from other beautiful Spanish towns and cities are the extremely well preserved Roman structures.

Unlike many other places, these Roman structures are in very good condition, and they are at ground level – not in underground areas where archeologists have re-constructed them.


The Roman city was protected by two very substantial walls (each 40+ feet high) on three sides, and the fourth side was the sea. A foe would really have to want to enter this city!

The walls are very thick!

Today much of the old city remains behind the ancient walls and is marked by narrow streets that invite exploration.

On one of these streets just inside the walls we had a lovely crepe for lunch under the trees.

One of the centerpieces of the old town is the Castellarnau House that dates from the sixteenth century with several restorations in between. The latest version of this lovely villa dates to around 1800. What a wonderful example of aristocratic living!

The Cathedral on the top of the hill.

After spending the day in Tarragon, we drove to a small hotel in the mountains north of Tarragona. where we relaxed in the rolling hills for the evening.

This was a typical Spanish countryside hotel run by a husband and wife, and is famous for its restaurant. We were among the few guests staying at the hotel at this time of year, but we were assured that folks from as far away as Madrid made their way to this restaurant for fine food.





And we were impressed with dinner that we had there – quite nice.

A salad with shrimps and very thin lamb chops crisply cooked with potatoes.

Upon leaving the hotel we headed to nearby Poblet that boasts a wonderful Cistercian monastery dating from the twelfth century (1151 CE).





OK, this monastery wasn't just for everyone -- this place was for the elite of the elite. If, for whatever reason, you wanted or were made to be a monk, this was the place to be. Surroundings filled with treasures of silver, tapestries, paintings, and choirs chanting. You may have had a stone bed, but your surroundings were warm.

And the really rich or famous were buried there in crypts such as those above.


The structure is very well preserved and is still inhabited by 30 monks. Nowadays they have central heating and modern conveniences. Above is their "great room."

The monks sustain themselves with entrance fees to the facility and with proceeds from their winemaking business. They have a great pinot noir!

Here is the wine processing and bottling room.

Then it was back on the coast road to Barcelona and our adventure returning our rental car. We picked up the car at the airport and were told there we could return the car downtown near the Plaza de Cataluña – one of the two major squares in the city. This sounded good to us because our apartment is a 10-minute walk away so we headed into the city.

We came into the city farther north than we thought.

OK, maybe a lot more than we thought. This is no where near the center of the city. But, Elsa says, it was a pretty drive.

We negotiated south (very fine map reading by the navigator!) and had to find a very tiny driveway, easy to miss, in fact we drove around the plaza twice because we missed it the first time, right on the Plaza de Cataluña next to the Hard Rock Café – at 6:00 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. No problema! Then we headed almost straight down into an underground parking area to drop off the car -- it was a very steep driveway into the return. We were glad to arrive safely. Well, not quite.

We had not been able to find a gas station on the way into the city so we thought we would just pay for the gas at the rental place. But $85 to refill the tank with their gas was a bit much.

So out we went to find a gas station, which we finally did. But finding the way back to the rental car establishemt was a little more dicey, and we had to confront all the rush hour traffic, the motos, the noise -- good thing there was a driver and a navigator, or we'd still be out there.

We wish we had more photos, but Elsa, who takes photos from the car, was intent upon finding our way and making sure we hit no peds or motos, so she took none. All-in-all, it was a memorable experience (OK, Dale said harrowing). In any event, we made it!

Love,

Elsa and Dale