One of the things that we did was to visit Tarragona, an ancient sea-port, which according to this statue was even visited by St Paul.

I only discovered that we were driving to Tarragona the night before we left at 1:30 Am. Up till that time, I though we were driving to Santander - that is until my wife told me that she had mixed up the place we were meeting friends. Still the trip to Catalunya wasn't that bad - and we even stopped off in Zaragoza to eat in a park a picnic lunch that we had prepared - and eight hours later we found ourselves in a rundown section of Tarragona's port. We stayed that first night in a pension, not finding anything else, and then in the morning switched to a hotel for the remainder of our stay. Needless to say, Tarragona was packed out with other families who had likewise traveled to the beach for their August holidays.

According to Wikipedia, "In Roman times, the city was named Tarraco (Ταρρακών in Ptolemy, ii. 6. § 17) and was capital of the province of Hispania Tarraconensis (after being capital of Hispania Citerior in the Republican era). The Roman colony founded at Tarraco had the full name of Colonia Iulia Urbs Triumphalis Tarraco."

While the New Advent Encyclopedia notes:

"Tarragona is one of the most ancient cities of Spain, probably of Iberian origin, as its coins and Cyclopean walls indicate. The Romans selected Tarragona as the centre of their government in Spain. In the division it was the capital first of Hither Spain (Hispania Citerior) and then of the Province of Tarraconensis. In the fifth century it was overrun by the Vandals, Suevi, and Alani. The Visigothic king, Euric, took possession of it in 475 and totally demolished it. During the occupation of the Visigoths it flourished once more, but the Arabs again destroyed it in 719."

There are plenty of Roman ruins, including a theater and circus, all near the sea ...




Again, reading from Wikipedia we learn:

There are still many important ancient remains at Tarragona. Part of the bases of large Cyclopean walls near the Quartel de Pilatos are thought to be anterior to the Romans. The building just mentioned, a prison in the 19th century, is said to have been the palace of Augustus. But Tarraco, like most other ancient towns which have continued to be inhabited, has been pulled to pieces by its own citizens for the purpose of obtaining building materials. The amphitheatre near the sea-shore has been used as a quarry, and but few vestiges of it now remain. A circus, 1500 feet long, is now built over it, though portions of it are still to be traced. Throughout the town Latin, and even apparently Phoenician, inscriptions on the stones of the houses proclaim the desecration that has been perpetrated. Two ancient monuments, at some little distance from the town, have, however, fared rather better. The first of these is a magnificent aqueduct, which spans a valley about a mile from the gates. It is 700 feet in length, and the loftiest arches, of which there are two tiers, are 96 feet high. The monument on the northwest of the city, and also about a mile distant, is a Roman sepulchre, commonly called the "Tower of the Scipios"; but there is no authority for assuming that they were buried here. (Cf. Ford, Handbook, p. 219, seq.; Florez, Esp. Sagr. xxix. p. 68, seq.; Miñano, Diccion. viii. p. 398.)

Elsewhere, according to that same text we learn that, "the first written testimony which we have concerning the bishops of Tarragona dates from the third century. This is in the Acts of the Martyrdom of the bishop St. Fructuosus and his deacons Augurius and Eulogius."

One of the irritating things though on this trip for me was that the Cathedral was undergoing some serious work. I wanted to go to just pray at one of the chapels, and a tour guide guarding the entrance tried to charge me ... to which I admit I became a bit irate. I explained I wasn't going to the museaum, but only to the chapel - and I certainly was not going to pay to go to the chapel to pray. I think the young girl was so shocked, that to avoid a scandal she let me in.

From the New Advent Encyclopedia we learn that "the Church of Tarragona is undoubtedly one of the most ancient in Spain, holding as it does the tradition of the coming of St. James and St. Paul. The visit of St. Paul to Tarragona is not altogether beyond the range of possibilities, supposing that he came from Rome to Spain, as he promised to do, in the Epistle to the Romans, and as St. Jerome affirms that he did."

Anyway, below is a picture of the front of the cathedral, with my wife and youngest on the steps.




And yet more Roman ruins, this time in the midst of a small plaza filled with terraces. The amazing thing is that these ruins are left unprotected and children can -- but probably shouldn´t -- scramble all over them.



But the real reason why we went to Tarragona was so that the children -- who are here at 11 PM playing in the park --






... could play on the beach.



The nice thing about this particular beach is that is stretches out for almost 100 yards into the sea with a very slow, gentle slope.






Besides being stung by jellyfish, the children had a great time. And I even scared them with stories about sharks. What to my surprise but two days after we left Tarragona that the beach was closed as a shark was found exactly where we had been swimming.