Ruins by the sea

Today's outing was to Tarragona, the main town near Salou. Around 2000 years ago Tarragona was Tarraco, the un-official third capital of the Roman Empire as it spread further west into Spain. There were some quite significant Roman buildings constructed here, including a Praetorium, Circus, Forum and Amphitheatre. There were also a number of aqueducts bringing water to the city from outlying rivers. Quite significant parts of some of these structures still remain and have now been preserved.

We were able to visit the remains of a portion of the Circus which is where the chariot races were held. It was an oval track around 325 meters long by 100 wide with seating for 25,000 spectators. The praetorium and forum next to it was probably four times as large. The praetorium was the Emporer's residence and the forum was the large open public space in the centre of the city, sort of a large square surround by buildings on all sides like an open market. It covered nearly 18ha at Tarragona.

The amphitheatre and city walls were fascinating as well. We walked in a genuine gladiator arena, unfortunately it was also the scene of Christian persecution with a number of Bishops martyred there. A church was eventually built on the arena floor to commemorate the martyred saints.

On our drive back we went via the remaining aqueduct, half of which was covered in scaffold. Another incomplete Spanish building project, apparently the restoration should have been finished two months ago.

Last night after our visit to Maccas for wi-fi we stopped at a restaurant near our unit for some more authentic Spanish cuisine. We had a little tapas, Spanish meatballs and a potato dish that was basically wedges with chilli sauce and sour cream though the cream did taste like guacamole. We did have some sangria (fruity red wine punch) and paella (seafood rice dish like a risotto) which were both delicious.

Overall I'm starting to enjoy Spain more, won't be long before we're on the move again though and we'll have to readjust ourselves again.

We're all missing home, in our different ways, and looking forward to catching up with everyone again. It's quite amazing to be standing in buildings dating from 2 B.C. Though so I wouldn't want to have missed anything though even though it can be a bit of an emotional roller coaster at times.

Spain - Tarragona