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Published: September 1st 2005
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Hola everybody,
Well here I am in sunny Spain and Wow what an experience so far. Firstly I think I should of taken a lot more Spanish lessons. I flew out Thursday afternoon and arrived 9.30pm. First thing first was that I had to get to Tarragona from Rues airport. The easiest option would most likely of been a taxi but you all know me, tight arse decided to do public transport seeing it would be so much cheaper. So I boarded the bus to Rues and then changed in Rues to go to Tarragona. Not overly difficult but when no one spoke any English, well I wasn´t overally confident. When arriving in Tarragona I was going to go by foot to my accommodation but decided on the easy way out and took a taxi when I discovered no street signs anywhere. And guess what, yep that´s right the taxi driver didn´t speak any English either. But I did manage to get to Forum Pension where I stayed. But lets make the first night even more challenging, no one there spoke English and no one could find my name in the reservations. It took a little while but we did
find it and apparently it was my fault because I was pronouncing my name incorrectly (actually I think my parents should get the blame, they should of known better). By midnight I was finally in my room and in bed starting to question whether I had done the right thing coming to Spain by myself.
Not knowing what I had ahead of me I headed out on my first full day in Spain. Hitting the footpath I decided to start checking out the sights. Luckily for me they weren´t to far as my pension was in Plaza De La Font which is part of the old town where most of the sights were. My first stop was Die Stadtmauern, the City Walls. Maybe I should give you all a little bit of history about Tarragona as most people haven´t heard of it before. Apparently is used to be called Tarraco and was one of the most important cities in the Mediterranian (well that´s what the brochure says). Anyway back to the walls. The city wall was the first of the grand Roman architectual structures built in Tarraco in 218BC (I think that means they´re fairly old). Basically they are
walls that go around the old town with some towers in spots. They have really nice gardens on them and have been looked after well in parts.
When I finished with the walls, which were lovely and had a great veiw, I wandered into the old town and went to Museumshaus Castellarnau, which is an old and important house. Several of Tarragona´s noble families have lived here and in 1542 King Charles 1 of Spain also lived here when he was in Tarragona. Pretty interesting stuff. But it was really nice to check out. Lots of old furniture and decorations, old paintings and chandeliers. I took a bit of extra time checking out the chandeliers especially for Fern (for those who know Fern you would understand, for those who don´t you don´t know what your missing out on). I actually quite liked the courtyard, it was quite relaxing until more of us pesky tourists turned up. Oh well I guess that´s what travelling is all about, you have to share. From there I headed up Plaza De La Seu to check out the Catedral (cathedral for those who just thought I can´t spell). I didn´t go in as I
museushaus Castellarnau
Chanderliers especially for Fern. Nice and sparkley was a little late seeing it was siesta time. Hmmm, siesta, I wouldn´t mind one of those right now. sorry got a bit of track. It´s amazing how quickly you can adapt to another cultures way of life.
Anyway back to the story. I decided to move along to some more old buildings or what was left of some old buildings starting with Das Provinzforum: Der Turm Des Pratoriums, The Provencial Forum: The Praetorium Tower. This is part of the upper part of the city and was built in 73AD, during the time of the Emperor Vespasian, and functioned as the political and economic administrative centre of the province. In 1129 the tower was converted into a residence for Robert Bordet then in 1171 it was the Kings castle. By the end of the 15th Century it was a military base and from 1811 it became a prision. All very interesting. Basically another old building with great veiws of the city including the Amfiteatre Roma (amptitheatre). Attached to Das Provinzforum is Der Romische Zirkus, the Roman Circus which was part of the lower part of the city. For those who don´t know what a circus is and I´m not
talking about those ones with clowns in them. A circus was an area held for spectacles during Roman times. Basically chariaot races, glatiator fights etc). Well after such an exhausting day I thought the only right thing to do was bask in the sun on the lovely beach seeing the next day was to include a bit of travel.
Day 2 in Spain saw my journey to Valencia. Only 4 hours on bus which isn´t bad being the cheapest option (there´s that tight arse in me again). My first day in Valencia had me wandering through Antiguo Cauce Del Rio Turia. Basically a dried up river which has been turned into a really nice, long park. It´s got this amazing playground in there where the plaything that kids play on is supposed to be Gulliver, you know from the story of Gulliver´s travel´s (if you don´t know the story ask your parents and if you do you probably are the parents). I ended up at a massive arts type place which has a museum, Imax, Science works and aquarium type of things. It was pretty cool. Kept me busy for about 5 hours. The best bit was the dolphins
though (I know your thinking typical girl). There as no display on but you could just sit and watch. They were playing around and jumping, it was pretty cool. As it got dark I decided to head back to where I was staying. I jumped on the bus quite confidently for my journey home, unfortuately I didn´t really recognize where I was and ended up where I started. I did give it another go and eventually found my way back. I was pretty exhausted so had quick bite to eat then staight to bed.
Day 3 was gearing up to be a good one but for those who have been to Spain they would know that nothing is open on Sundays, not even supermarkets. So I wandered around a bit then headed to the beach with Princess Sparkle. Very busy but still nice. So nice I decided to have a little nap not always the smartest thing to do if you don´t like the colour red, but never fear I´m all good an turning a nice shade of dark brown. I know I shouldn´t rub it in to those enjoying the wonderful weather of Melbourne but really, suffer in your jocks.
Day 4 checked out the sights a bit more in Valencia including the Catedral which was lovely. I has this room which apparently has the holy in grail in it. I was really freaky though cause everytime I tried to take a photo of the chalice the phot kept coming out blurred. I tried 5 times. Hmmm, you can decide if it is something unusual. Later that night I hooked up with a group of Irish travellers and decided to have a couple of drinks. I am now suffering the consequences which is making this really hard to write. oh well it´s all about fun.
Anyway 1 more sleep then tomato, tomato, tomato.
Aidios
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