Part 1. Spain. Tarragona.
So, our wonderful trip to Spain began. First of all, we decided to visit Tarragona.
A small lyrical digression:
Tarragona is the ancient capital of Catalonia, one of the northern Spanish regions. Located on the Mediterranean coast, a hundred kilometers from Barcelona. During the Roman Empire, the city was called Tarracon (in Latin Tarraco, Tarracona) and was the capital
the Roman province of Near Spain, and after the unification with Galicia - the province of Tarraconian Spain.
After the successful completion of the Cantabrian War, Octavian Augustus wintered in Tarraco, having built
numerous buildings in honor of the victory.
The ruins of Roman structures were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in Spain in 2000.
The city is very beautiful, a lot of ancient Roman buildings have survived to this day.
This is the Amphitheater, where gladiator fights took place, here in an unequal fight with lions the first Christians killed by the Romans for their belief in one God died. This is the Roman Circus, which once served as a training ground for the gladiators and "knights" of Ancient Rome. This is the Roman Forum, which was the center of the social life of the Romans. This is Pretorium Roma, the palace of the Roman governor, now there is the Archaeological Museum of Tarragona. This is a 4-kilometer stone wall that once protected Tarraco from enemies, now called Wall Boulevard. This is a well-preserved Aqueduct in the suburbs of the city, which served the ancient inhabitants of the city as a water supply...
In addition to these attractions, later buildings have been preserved in Tarragona. Among them is the Cathedral of the 11th century, under the Romans in its place was the Temple of Jupiter, under the Arabs a mosque, and then a wonderful Catholic cathedral appeared.
In the western part of the city there is an early Christian necropolis. Burials of the 3rd-5th centuries have been preserved here. A museum of early Christianity has been opened at the cemetery, where ancient sarcophagi, tombstones and other items found during excavations are exhibited.
I managed to visit the house of a famous merchant in his time, by the name of Castellarnau. Casa Castellarnau is inconspicuous from the street, but getting inside you find yourself in the chambers, shrouded in luxury and romance of bygone years.
And in the evening we accidentally hit the beach, it turned out these days there was a fireworks festival, we got to the representation of Italy.
So, the most interesting and famous sights of the ancient city of Tarakko, which are definitely worth a visit:
- Amphitheater.
- Roman Circus.
- Roman forum.
- Early Christian necropolis.
- Cathedral.
- Fortifications (Boulevard of the Wall).
- Archaeological Museum.
- Arena for bullfighting.
- Streets of the Old City.
- Just interesting houses.
- And of course the sea, because this is the Costa Dorada - the Gold Coast.
In addition, walking around the city you can see a lot of interesting things : -)).
