This is a featured article by travel blogger Katie. She is a cake and travel addicted blogger who spent February and March 2013 travelling around Europe. You can follow her trip on Twitter. Ever since visiting Hadrian’s Wall as a child I have been fascinated with the history of the Roman Empire. After watching the BBC series Rome on television, I was excited to find out that the ancient Roman city of Tarraco, or Tarragona as it is called today, is just 11 kilometres up the coast from Salou where I had just made plans to visit as part of a larger trip I was taking round Spain. So I was definitely looking forward to taking a day trip to Tarragona during my stay in Salou.
The View over Tarragona – Taking a Day Trip to Tarragona – Photo by Ramon Baile
Taking a day trip to Tarragona
While I love the feeling of being able to go wherever the mood takes me on my travels, I do like to plan some parts up front. I worry that otherwise I’d end up spending too much time planning and booking accommodation rather than actually enjoying myself. I chose a hotel called Hotel California Palace, which I thought would be an interesting conversation if anyone asked me which hotel I had stayed at. Plus I know it must be a really common name for a hotel following the Eagles hit song, but shouldn’t everyone spend at least one night in their life at a Hotel California?
All joking aside the price was right and the hotel’s central location close to the railway station meant I could easily pop up to Tarragona for the day and explore the Roman ruins knowing that both Hadrian, whose wall I so admired as a child had along with Augustus had spent time in Rome’s Iberian capital. For the first few days in Salou I just relaxed around the swimming pool working on my tan while enjoying not having to do anything, I had decided to make my day trip to Tarragona on Thursday, as I had heard that was when they had their weekly market, and from past experiences on visiting Spain I found that that was always the day that had more things happening, plus with Tarragona not being touristy like Salou I thought I might be able to pick up something unusual to take back home as a souvenir.
As I already said the railway station was close to the hotel and with frequent commuter trains’ making the 12-minute journey to Tarragona there was not too much planning needed. On arrival in Tarragona I strolled down the wide promenade called the Rambla Nova to the beautiful iron railings that they call “The Balcony of the Mediterranean” which you are supposed to touch for good luck. The view is magnificent overlooking the sparkling Mediterranean Sea and the golden sand of Miracle Beach but what makes the view special is that if you look to the left you will see the second-century Roman amphitheatre where up to 15,000 citizens cheered for their favourite gladiator or witnessed the martyrdom of Christians in the third century.
Taking a Day Trip to Tarragona – Photo by Tchacky
New Roman finds are being discovered all the time in Tarragona as the people that came after the Romans just kept building on top of the foundations the Romans had laid down. Next I went to visit the praetorium (Roman governor’s residence) and the largest circus in the Roman Empire built for chariot races by the Emperor Domitian to make up the forum that you can still follow the route of throughout the city. I was surprised to find that Tarragona was not as touristy as I thought it would be seeing as it was rated Michelins top 3-star award for sightseeing, and also the fact it was a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I found the whole Roman experience absolutely fascinating, and had by now given up the idea of buying a souvenir from the market, as it was mostly fruit and veg along with cheap clothes from China which was not quite what I was looking for so decided to find a nice place for lunch before heading back to Salou. I have since discovered that Tarragona has several market days, and Thursday was the clothing market. I found a great place to eat in the Plaça de la Font which feels as if you are sitting in the heart of the old city called Lola Tapas where I dined on fried calamari with a Russian salad. Along with an excellent glass of the house red before walking back to the station and heading back to Salou. I really enjoyed my day in Tarragona as it is easy to walk around in and you can actually start to imagine what it must have been like in the days of the Roman Empire.