Tarragona

Tarragona is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the 5th century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tarragonès and Catalonia. Geographically, it is bordered on the north by the Province of Barcelona and the Province of Lleida. The city has a population of 201,199 (2014).

Main sights

Ancient remains

The Roman ruins of Tarraco have been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Part of the bases of large Cyclopean walls near the Cuartel de Pilatos are thought to pre-date the Romans. The building just mentioned, a prison in the 19th century, is said to have been the palace of Augustus. The second century Tarragona Amphitheatre near the seashore was extensively used as a quarry after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and but few vestiges of it now remain. A circus c. 450 metres (1,480 ft) long, was built over in the area now called Plaça de la Font, though portions of it are still to be traced. Throughout the town Latin, and even apparently Phoenician, inscriptions on the stones of the houses mark the material used for buildings in the town.

Two ancient monuments, at some little distance from the town, have, however, fared rather better. The first of these is Les Ferreres Aqueduct, which spans a valley about 4 kilometres (2 miles) north of the city. It is 217 m (712 ft) in length, and the loftiest arches, of which there are two tiers, are 26 m (85 ft) high. There is a monument about 6 km (4 mi) along the coast road east of the city, commonly called the “Tower of the Scipios”; but there is no authority for assuming that they were buried here.

Other Roman buildings include:

The Roman walls
The capitol, or citadel
The Amphitheatre
The Roman circus
The Pretorium – Tower
The Provincial and Colonial fora
The Necropolis
The palace of Augustus, called the house of Pilate
The so-called tower, or sepulchre, of the Scipios
Arch of Sura, or of Bara
The Aurelian Way.

The city is also home to the National Archaeological Museum of Tarragona.

Religious buildings

The Tarragona Cathedral, dating to the 12th–13th centuries, combining Romanesque and Gothic architectural elements.
The convent of the Poor Clares, near the walls
The convent of Santa Teresa
The church of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, the parish church of the port
The former convent of Sant Francesc
The Jesuit college was turned into barracks; their church, however, has been restored to them
The convent of the Dominican Order, now the town hall
The archiepiscopal palace, situated on the site of the ancient capitol, one tower of which still remains. It was rebuilt in the 19th century.
Near the sea, in the Roman amphitheatre, are the remains of a church called Santa Maria del Miracle (Holy Mary of the Miracle), which belonged to the Knights Templar. It was afterwards used by the Trinitarian Order and was later converted into a penitentiary. It was demolished around 1915.

The seminary of Sant Pau and Santa Tecla was founded in 1570 by the cardinal archbishop, Gaspar Cervantes de Gaeta, and was the first to comply with the decrees of the Council of Trent. In 1858 Archbishop José Domingo Costa y Borrás built a fourth wing. Benito Villamitjana built a new seminary behind the cathedral in 1886, in the courtyard of which stands the old chapel of Sant Pau. Pope Leo XIII raised this to the rank of a pontifical university.

50 km (31.07 mi) north of the city is Poblet Monastery, founded in 1151 by Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, which was used for sepultures of the kings.

Modern Tarragona

Tarragona is home to a large port and the Rovira i Virgili University. Much of its economic activity comes from a large number of chemical industries located south of the city.

The main living heritage is the Popular Retinue, a great parade of dances, bestiary and spoken dances, and the human towers. They specially participate in Santa Tecla Festival. They are so popular in Tarragona and also in all Catalonia that they have got their own home. It is called “Casa de la Festa”, Festivities House, where you can visit them all year.

A number of beaches, some awarded a Blue Flag designation, line the Mediterranean coast near the city.

Tarragona is located near the resort of Salou and the PortAventura World (PortAventura Park, the most visited theme park in Spain, Ferrari Land and also the PortAventura Caribe Aquatic Park).

The city is served by Camp de Tarragona railway station, and is located a few kilometres away from Reus Airport, which has many low-cost destinations and charter-flights (over a million passengers per year). The port is an export hub for the Spanish car industry.

Reus is the second city of the Tarragona area (101,767 inhabitants in 2006), known by its commercial activity and for being the place where the architect Antoni Gaudí was born.

The city hosted the 2018 Mediterranean Games, one year later than planned, because of political and economical instability.

Food and drink outlets

Tarragona contains a number of small bars, restaurants, and cafes serving tapas and sandwiches, and local seafood and Catalan dishes like “pa amb tomàquet” or “neules i torrons”. Many such outlets are found in the historic centre, including those at the Plaça de la Font, Plaça del Rei and Plaça del Fòrum. The neighbourhood of El Serrallo, at the harbour, specialises in seafood cuisine.

Between 1903 and 1989, the French liqueur made by the Carthusian Monks, Chartreuse, was distilled in Tarragona, following the monks’ expulsion from France.