Tarragona and Barcelona, Spain: A Few Adventures

Today we ventured out of Barcelona to the little town of Tarragona, rumored to be home to splendid beaches and some interesting Roman ruins.  Upon arrival, we made our way to the top of the town hill, which happens to contain both the city center and the old town.  Fortunately for us, there was an outdoor escalator handy to assist us in our ascent!

Once at the top of the hill, we elected to visit the cathedral, part of which dates from the twelfth century.  While the cloisters and chapels were nice, we cannot attest to the actual cathedral itself, as it was inaccessible due to renovations.

After our failure to see the cathedral, we set out to see some of the Roman ruins.  Beautifully set against the Mediterranean, as you can see above, we were excited to explore them.  Unfortunately, this was as close as we got, as all of the sites bar one were closed on Monday.  The one that we did see was overwhelming underwhelming.

The failure of our Roman ruins adventure was slightly mollified by the fact that we still had the beach!  We weren't aware, however, that there was only one access point to the beach that runs the length of this little town, so it took us quite some time to actually reach the sand.  I was really excited to swim by the time I got there!

Despite some setbacks in Tarragona, it was still a really neat local town to see.  After all of our adventures, though, we decided we had better head back to Barcelona.  We got there just in time to check out the market, La Boquiera, which has lots of fresh food and some crafts as well.  What a great way to get one last little bit of Spanish flavor!