Catalunya, Part 1

23rd February to 1st March, 2000

On an earlier caravan trip, we had passed close to Tarragona and wondered about the place.  It is famous as Scipio's city from which in 218 BC he headed south to sort out Hannibal.  Our guide book showed no all-year sites close to the city, but after detouring off the coast road several times, we eventually found the Tamarit Park open and fairly busy.  Since Benicarlo we had not found an internet cafe, so our first task was to wander off in the hope of finding one in the town.

The city is quite welcoming and we found free parking within easy walking distance of the Paseig de les Palmeres, which is at the top of the old and new Ramblas.  We had been given a map at the camp office, but it did not explain the significance of the two colours used to identify the tourist information points and we walked the whole length of the Rambla Nova, imagining that the main office would be on the Rambla as our guide book said.  In fact, it is in a side street, the Carrer Fortuny, but we were pleased to see the Rambla, shown above.  On the left is a general view, in the centre is one of the 'human towers' typical of this area and, on the right, one of the magnificent buildings that line the Rambla.

As luck would have it, the Tourist Office told us that we could access the Internet in the Public Library at the bottom of the street we were in.  Better still, we learnt that we had half an hour free each day.  The Library is shown far right, and David can be seen at a terminal, centre.

The free Internet turned out to be high quality and very quick and, being free, we resolved to make further use of it on another day.  On the Monday we walked the Rambla to the Library enthusiastically only to find that it was closed in the morning.   In the afternoon we returned to be allocated a geriatric terminal that was slow and wouldn't access a floppy disk.  Still, for free, who can complain.  We returned one more time, to be allocated the same terminal, only to find their server, which was in a sponsoring company's office the other side of town, crashed for 20 minutes of our half hour.  No sooner was it up, than some young student importuned for his half hour.   Stoppages were not added to playing time.

After dealing with our Hotmail, we returned to the tour of the town, which has magnificent mediaeval arcades, shown below left, next to its Cathedral, shown below centre and right.

The Roman Amphitheatre, shown below left, we found by chance right next to where we parked the car.  At some stage it appears that a Church had been built in the middle of it.  Sadly, much of modern Tarragona has obliterated the old Roman city.   A part of the Forum has been excavated, shown below centre and right, but it is in two blocks connected by a footbridge over a busy road. 

As we examined what remained of a Roman road disappearing into the modern buildings, Kate noticed (above right) a faint cross on the pavement, which we show below left.  We have no idea, of course, how old the carving is or whether the stone had been used somewhere else for a headstone and later returned.  A block away from the Forum is the Roman Theatre, what's left of which can be seen in a deep excavation where more recent buildings had been removed. 

Tarragona boasts the oldest Roman walls in Spain.  Though not much remains, what does is still formidable and is shown below centre.  We assume that the really old walls are the lower part, made of roughly hewn stone of large and varying size.   No doubt the first walls were built by the first Roman military occupiers, whose priorities were time and security.  Later more cultured Romans added the upper parts with their traditional attention to detail. 

Above right is shown the Roman aqueduct a few kilometres out of Tarragona on the Lleida road.  This is a busy and narrow road and it is easy to miss the small sign pointing through an insignificant stone gateway and unmade track on the right a kilometre after the motorway.  It is dangerous to cross this road and turning round was a bit hairy.  The car 'bottomed' as we turned left off the road onto the potholed track.   There was no sign of the aqueduct as we drove deeper into the pine woods up and along the narrow track, but we pressed on, more in hope than expectation.  When eventually we found it, a party of schoolchildren with their teachers were conducting physics experiments with long tubes and water which no doubt were aimed at checking the levels.  Once again, we shuddered at these ten or eleven-year olds, walking in single file across the aqueduct with its low parapet 80 feet above the ground.

The Tamarit Park camp site is close to the old walled town of Altafulla, some 15 kilometres from Tarragona, north on the N340.  This town and its beach are not mentioned in our guide book and yet are quite exceptional.   Shown below left from the Barcelona side, it is an impressive sight.  We explored it on the Saturday, before visiting the supermarket on the edge of the town.  It was nearly deserted, but had many well-preserved buildings dating from the 15th century.  The main residence is shown below centre and the Church, below right. 

The town is built on a rocky outcrop and in the house above left the rock can be seen at the base of the walls.  Many of the buildings were adorned with fine carved details and crescents, shown above centre and right.  Outside the walled part, we came across an abandoned building with a circular paved area, about 30 yards diameter,   in front of it, which puzzled us.  It too was sat on a rock outcrop and, as the fifth Station of the Cross was cut into one of its walls, it must have been quite old.   The roof water was lead by pipes back into the building.  A further clue was that a low parapet surrounded the paved circle, with regular apertures at ground level.   We concluded that is was probably an old cattle market and that the paved area could be washed down after the sales.

The Tamarit Park camp site is rated as First Class by the Spanish Tourist Office and we would go along with it.  It is at the end of a narrow, winding road that needs caution and strong nerves, and is on the beach of the same name.  Towering above the camp is a small castle, shown below left from the south-west and centre from the north-east.  Inside the castle is a modern conference centre and an old private Church, shown below right, that must make for a very stylish wedding location. 

A beautiful sandy beach stretches from the castle, past the camp north-east to the beach resort of Altafulla, shown immediate right, with the promenade shown far right, which has several good bars and restaurants.

We stayed longer than we intended which is an indication of how attractive we found the place.   Our camp was one of the best and had easy access to Tarragona which was one of the most relaxed cities we have walked and driven around.

Last updated: 18/03/01