Tarragona, Spain
Oh magical Tarragona. At the risk of slighting Barcelona, I must admit that my breath was taken away when I got off the train and experienced this view. We had no idea what we were in for and set about to discover the magic of this quaint little town. Tarragona was captured by the Roman Empire in 218 BC and later became the capital of "Tarraconensis" under Augustus' rule. The city is rich in Roman ruins and devoid of tourists. I absolutely suggest making this dayHaving spent a good portion of the morning getting to Tarragona, Mark and I jumped at the chance to have a peaceful lunch under the yellow umbrellas of the quaint restaurant.
We were anxious to visit the cathedral but found out it was closed until 4pm (this town takes it siesta time seriously.) We also learned the hardway about Spanish eating habits. Lunch starts around 1pm, siesta is from 1 - 4pm, tapas and gelato (a fancy name for ice cream) are avialble until 6 pm, but the serious dinner time starts around 8:30 - 9 pm. This town totally shuts down their food until dinner time! We were very hungry and very bummed about that. That was the day that I succumed to the local McDonald's.
After lunch we took a walk around the city to see the big Roman wall. The Roman's built this wall to keep out their enemies. It still stands today and envelopes the old city. You can see it here to the left.
One of the most amazing experiences on our trip was to be in the presence of century old ruins. Two that we saw were The Forum and the Colliseum. The picture of steps is the colliseum -- where people in the early AD centuries enjoyed their "performances." AKA gladiator and animal fights. Too gruesome to think about but I was quite captivated by the history.
Mark decided to sit on the steps and "be" like the spectators. I think he is taking my coaching advice a bit too far. =-) The picture of the arches and pillars is the Forum, where people conducted business and met for meetings. There were many old nooks, statues, pillars and remants of an ancient city life.
As we left the colliseum on our way to see the cathedral, we had to climb about 60 stairs. As we turned around, this was the view.
After a very hot and water-deprived walk, we got back to the cathedral. By the way, water is a serious commodity in these areas. A .79 cent bottle of water in the US went for around 2 Euros (about $2.45 cents US.)
Anyway, once we entered the cathedral, I was awestruck. The entrance is an archetectural wonder in itself. Here are pictures of the entry way and a detail of the carved statues in the arch.
The details, the opulence and the magnificence were tremendous. A few of the pieces that actually turned out in the photoes are here.
We ended our day just outside the cathedral at a wonderful cafe which specializes in chocolate. My favorite. This is a picture of the little cafe -- it was so peaceful to sit and enjoy a te (tea) and enjoy the surroundings. On our way back to Barcelona on the train, we both passed out. It became a ritual for us to nap after a long day of sight seeing -- maybe those siestas make perfect sense afterall.
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