This morning we left Barcelona still singing its praises. In terms of 'liveability' it must be one of the best cities in the world.
Our next stop down the road was Tarragona... Rome's prime port on the Iberian peninsula... they didn't pick Barcelona... for two reasons... first, Tarragona sits close to a mountain range and had control over a couple of important passes... secondly, the richest gold mine of the Roman Empire, Las Médules, had its ore transported to Tarragona to be shipped to Rome.
Caesar Augusta started the development of Tarragona in 45BC... and it received the trappings given to all important colonies... the theatre... the amphitheatre... the circus... the aqueduct ... the forum... and plenty of straight roads. Tarragona was never planned to be a huge city... so all these trappings of power were located quite centrally... you don't have to walk very far to get from one to the other. Tarragona has marketed this 'proximity' to the full.
Tarragona has a letter that Emperor Hadrian wrote near the end of his life... recounting the happy times he had spent in Tarragona... recalling details of his building program... his political exploits... his pleasure in attending entertainment in the city. His letter goes to great lengths to complement the people of the town for their honesty, generosity and sense of humour... not bad for a city where a citizen attempted to assassinate him. All this was written with such gusto... it seems to have been scripted by a travel agent.
Today they have used this letter as a central argument in promoting the town. We only had 3 hours to spend in town... couldn't escape having to sit through a video re-enacting Hadrian's letter writing... but came away agreeing with all the points Hadrian had made. Other cities have bigger buildings... but none has all the Roman icons built in such proximity and remaining in such good condition.
Tarragona... another Spanish town to put on your travel itinerary.
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