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Published: September 2nd 2013
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the fort in BarcelonaTuesday morning we got up early (finally) and hit the market for a fresh breakfast. Not much tastes better than fresh kiwi/Orange juice, egg and fresh zucchini omelet and espresso. The juice from from a fruit vendor. The rest was from one of the counter restaurants. After breakfast we made our way to the rental car place. After having driven in Puerto Rico, I've become quite confident with my foreign country driving skills. We picked up a small Renault hatchback and were on our way. One thing I did not consider...the large round abouts and how they become one big mess of cars. We were making our way to Montjuic, a large park area that has a fort. This meant navigating one of the largest of round abouts. With John as the navigator and helping with looking for roads and cars, here we go. It was time to put my big girl pants on and get in the circle. We had to go 3/4 quarters of the way around and we did very well! Success! This was not hard.
We made our way into the park which is home to many things including sites from a World's Fair and the
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the fort in Barcelona 1992 Olympics. We were only focused on one thing, Castell de Montjuic. This is a 17th century fortress and was actually quite cool. It's very large. The original mote is now a beautiful garden area. They still have some canons set out. The doors leading into the fort were massive. Once inside it was a large open square area. There weren't any rooms to go into but we did go to the upper level of the grounds which gave way to beautiful views of the city. The fort is up a on hill/small mountain so from here you could see all of Barcelona. Including La Sagrada Familia. It was quite fun to check out all the places we had already been. We spent about an hour here and then headed back to the car. Time for the road trip to begin.
We had a minor hiccup getting onto the highway but easily corrected it. I had not mapped out any routes. I just assumed that the maps in my book would be fine. According to the navigator, John, this was not the case. And the map the car rental place gave us was not any help either. Out came
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the fort in Barcelona the iPhone and Google maps. I guess sometimes technology is good when traveling.
We went south out of Barcelona and headed to Tarragona. Tarragona is living history. The drive along the highway was quite easy. We didn't see much from the road. We were on a bit of a time crunch since we needed to be in Valencia that night. Pulling into Tarragona was quite pretty. This is a much smaller town. It was quite easy to maneuver and we were able to find parking right next to the ruins. This city was originally founded by the Romans in 218 BC. They occupied it for hundreds of yrs and then it was abandoned. The Muslims came in around 714 AD. Then Christians took it over in 1089 AD. Talk about sites to see! We started with the Roman wall that at one time went clear around the city. I think I walked around with my mouth gaping during the 5+ hrs we spent here. As we walked along the wall you are up close to something built centuries ago. These huge stone blocks perfectly placed that have with stood storms and wars and earthquakes. It's mind blowing to see.
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The old Wall of the roman city. dates back to 1st century AD The wall was still so well in tack. It was still holding up parts of the city on the other side. It was still creating a fortress like barrier for those that lived inside it. As we came around the far side of what was left, we were able to walk into the old city. Today it's completely occupied by people living and working. The buildings are all 5 or so stories high and extremely narrow. Every building is directly connected to the ones on either side. The streets were crazy narrow. I couldn't believe they allowed cars in there. None of the roads were straight. Everything sort of wand around. It was awesome! We ended up at the church and decided to grab a quite late lunch prior to touring. We ate at a little cafe in the square. I had a seafood pasta like first course with paella as my second and chocolate cake for dessert. The standard espresso followed. It was all quite good. We then moved on to the church.
Built on the site of a Roman temple, the Cathedral in its present state was started in 1117 AD. Considering this date, I was shocked
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part of old column by it's size. It's a gothic style church and it over a 100 meters in length. When you walk in your over come by the white/grey walls and pillars. And then the contrast of the dark wood benches and organ on each side of the main aisle. Lighting up the church are large stained glass windows at the top including a very impressive rose window. The floor was amazing because it was cut stone into shapes and in different colors...grey, Brown, yellow/orange. Crazy! One of the other interesting things was how many of the walls were painted in patterns. Much of the paint has worn off now but in places where you can see it, it was beautiful. Very different than what I have seen in other churches. The other thing I loved was the carved and painted wood ceilings in some areas. So intricate and bright. They used greens and reds and holds on a dark rich brown wood. This against the darkness of the white/grey walls was outstanding! Outside of the church but still contained in its grounds was a courtyard. Around the perimeter were more chapel/prayer areas. From out here you could really get a sense of
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gate at catedral the church's overall size. With its large window and entrance doors looking out over the square and down the steep steps...it definitely commanded your attention.
From here we made out way out of the walled city and over to the coast. Here sits the original Roman theater. It's believed this as built in the 1st century. It is quite well preserved and in tack. At its hey day, it was said to have sat 12,000 people. I couldn't get over how intricate the stones were placed to build a structure that not only held that many people but also could with stand this much time and still handle people walking on it today. The seating area is so well preserved in some areas that it was comfortable to sit down! Gladiators battled here. We waterfall through it. Even saw the remains of a church that was built in the ring at some point. The views of the Mediterranean from here were amazing as well!
From here our interest was spiked far too high and we had to see more. We continued on to what is left of the Roman Circu, where the chariot races were held. What we
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wáter fountains everywhere but this one was super cool and in the heart of the old roman city saw were a few vaults, places the horses were prior to the race and a very ruined outline of the one end of the race area. At its racing days, the circus was 300 meters long! Again, seeing something that dates from.so long ago was incredible. We then climbed two towers that were not quite as old but still interesting. How did they accomplish all.of this during those days? And again, I have to go to Egypt!
At this point we've taken in all the major sites and decide to head back to the car. The final interesting thing we realized is they they are still excavating ruins. They found some after a building had collapsed. I said to John that would could be incredible what they would find if they took down a lot of the buildings that stand today.
Back in the car and out of town we head. Again, once on the highway it was pretty uneventful. We stopped for gas and ended up pretty far from the highway. Thank God they had some signs posted! As we drew near to Valencia, I was anxious to get out of the car. I had left the
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the catedral US with a bad sinus infection and the long nights of drinking and little sleep had not helped. I was ready for bed. We made it into the city with relative ease, even found the apt we were staying in but parking was another issue. We ended up finding a garage but it was on the opposite side of the old.part of town. Taxi to the rescue! At this point we connected with Elaine and she let us into the apt. The stop in Valencia was for one thing...La Tomatina. There 18 of us in total headed to the event and we were staying in a 5 bedroom loft with 8 others. The loft was amazing!!! 2 floors. 3 bathrooms. Outdoor rooftop terrace. We were more than comfortable! After dropping our bags we went with Elaine to meet up with many of the others. It was great to see so many friends! We went to a restaurant and ordered some food and drinks. The food was not that good and their idea of cava sangria was essentially cava and oj. I was not ok impressed. The funniest though was that John ordered the fried fish tapas and literally got a
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original painting on the Wall. you can see where it´s fading away. huge plate stacked with fried sardines. I've never seen anything like it!!! Everyone at the table was laughing. Worst part was they didn't taste that good. We made it a relatively early night, which meant in bed by midnight. I was never happier to put my head on a pillow. Tomorrow is a big day. The whole reason for the Spain trip...time for a little tomato fight!
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Elise
non-member comment
Fun
Driving in Spain! You are brave! Love reading about your travels!! Enjoy the rest of your trip!! Xoxo!