Sunrise in Tarragona

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Even with a late start, I managed to get a nice sunrise shot this morning. The sun seems to come up late here, at 7 a.m. it is still pretty dark here. Today marks the end of our first full week of vacation. Two more weeks to go, and the action really starts picking up. This is also our last day in Tarragon with just a few more neighborhoods to cover. After breakfast we will focus on neighborhoods that will offer views of the Mediterranean Sea. I am not sure I can live on the Mediterranean without having a daily view of it. The rents seem to be so unrealistically low we should be able to swing an ocean view apartment.

We had a quick and light breakfast given our late start and were off for the morning. We started with a walk down the esplanade turning into the city just before the local train station. There really is very little to blog about today as we mostly looked at neighborhoods, stopped at realtor windows to check out rents and square footage. We did check out the Roman Forum in the middle of town.

This is a good opportunity to explain the connection to the Roman Empire. Tarragona was the provincial capital for Rome for the Iberian Peninsula. From here they ruled all of what would become Spain and Portugal. This is why there are more Roman ruins here than almost any other place outside of Italy. Unlike the rest of Spain, Catalonia does not appear to have a big Moorish influence, there is not a lot of use of Saffron or Paprika in the regional dishes and very little Muslim influence in the architecture that we have seen.

After our morning walk about, we headed back to the hotel to get a taxi up to lunch, and I mean up. It was on top of the hill with the Cathedral and neither my back nor my ankle were up for the steep walk up.

Los Coques

We happened to get lucky enough to get a reservation here, it is a hot in the know local eatery. We were the only tourists in the entire restaurant. Obviously, tourists to manage to find there way here (and it is a hidden gem) since they have an English menu on their tablet available. We arrived just before 1 (when they open) and at first it was just us and a table of four local retirees. Within 45 minutes there wasn’t a table to be had. The last couple that walked in at 3:15 did not have a reservation lucked out as two tables just happen to be finishing at that time, us being one of them.

The had four menus to pick from, the menu of the day, with three courses, choice of entrée, the al a cart menu, one I don’t remember and the one we had which was the Anniversary Menu. The only choice we had to make was our entrée, everything else was preset. Oh, we did have to pick between white or red wine. White it was since, yes again we were having fish.

The meal was as follows:

The house appetizer: Hot vegetable soup (asparagus and broccoli) in an espresso cup sized portion and chorizo crostini.

Next were three starters to share (and a basket of Bread)

· Salmon Tartar

· Beef carpaccio

· Sautéed local mushrooms with eggs.

For the entrée Jerry had a cod in burnt garlic sauce and I had Grilled whole sole (yes, I had to use my fish fileting skills, which don’t really exist.) Both were really good, and the sole melted in my mouth, with a touch of olive oil, garlic and pine nuts.

Next was the cheese board, three Spanish cheeses.

Finally, dessert; chocolate cake and biscuit pudding.

This was our first real Spanish Siesta Lunch. A siesta is exactly what I needed, but what I got was a walk through the Alta Mara (old walled city). We strolled the cobble stoned streets looking for the Roman Murals, well there are no murals, what they mean are the old roman walls of the city. We did come upon the entrance to the archaeological walk, between two sets of city walls. Jerry did this on his own and I headed back to the hotel, my back and ankle just not able to take much more for the day.

That really was the day, other than having to start it with checking e-mails, which put a bit of stress into the day, but was soon forgotten by the time lunch rolled around. Just relaxing in the room before we head off to our last dinner in Tarragona.

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I am a bit behind, since I am finishing yesterdays blog while we are now in Granada.

We did something different for our last dinner in Tarragona, we typically are not in to the newest or hottest place, but the location of the restaurant was on the corner of the Central Market, so we figured we would give it a chance. On the way, we also were able to check out some of the neighborhoods we had visited early at night to see what the vibe was like.

When we arrived at Seasons, we were a bit concerned, it was very brightly lit and only one other person in the entire restaurant. The chef/owner was very minimalist both in his food presentation and décor, but he was a talented chef. The food was a take on traditional Catalyn cuisine with a bit of an update and French fare. The menu of course was a QR code instead of good old hold in your hand paper.

We naturally started with our Cava and a few things to share; Croquetes de Txuleta (beef), Pa de vidre (pan con tomate on glass bread) and Canelo Fred de Marisc. This last dish must be described in great detail, the simple English title on the menu is Lobster Cannelloni, with romesco. It was so much more than that. It was a cold cannelloni, and the cannelloni itself was paper thing and the lobster was a cold-water lobster. The best way to describe this is Maine meets Spain. What I am saying is that it was a lobster roll cannelloni, and way and above the best dish of the day.

The entrées, while good did not come close to that lobster. Jerry had Bacalla freixit, tempura fired cod with romesco. I had La vicalanda (Galician beef with foie gras). They were both very good. I guess you really can’t judge a place by its bright lights.

As we were finishing up the guy from the only other table in the house came over and started talking to us. He was from Geneva and driving his parents dog to Malaga, where they spend their winters (Summers in Finland). As we were talking the locals began to show up and the place was suddenly busy. On family walked in with their dog, who was well behaved and just slept under the table.

Thus, ends our stay in Tarragona. Is it a retirement contender, more so for Jerry than me, but it is still on the list if for no other reason the cost of living is very low.

As I said we are in Granda now for the next three nights.

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Photos

Canelo fred de Marisc
Maine meets Spain
DIsh of the Day