First of all, I'm sorry that I have not posted in awhile, I have been more busy with school projects during the week, and we (the entire Study Abroad group) traveled to Valencia for three days last weekend.
Two weekends ago I was able to travel to Tarragona, a small town south of Barcelona along the coast where the Carthaginians first conquered (from the natives of the time), then the Romans (in their conquest of Carthage), and was finally developed by the Christian and then Muslim (and then Christian) settlers.
One of the main sites to see in Tarragona is the Roman amphitheatre which served many entertainment purposes in this ancient Roman city, including the execution of many Christian martyrs:
In the center of the amphitheatre are the remains of the basilica of a Christian early church. It was built over the amphitheatre as a memorial to those who were executed here for their devotion to Christ.
This popular Cathedral is well-known in Spain:
These are statues of the apostles of Christ, and they, as well as the rest of the Cathedral, were not torn down when this Cathedral was used as a Mosque during the Muslim reign of Spain. This respect was common practice in Spain, and both sides (Muslim and Christian) would generally not destroy the opposing religious sites in respect of the beauty and craftsmanship of the buildings.
Coincidentally, I was in this Cathedral when mass began, and I stayed for most of the ceremony:
This month in Spain holds several celebrations (I don't entirely know the history), and one was being carried out in Tarragona while I was there. I'm not sure what was going on in this plaza, but it appears Elvis came out to sing...
I had the entire day to hang out in this relatively small town, so I took time to do some homework and take a good nap out on some rocks by the beach on the Mediterranean:
My train did not leave Tarragona until after 9:00 pm, so I was able to see the beauty of Tarragona at night. Here is an old chapel on the port side of the city:
I decided to wander through the city, given that I had almost three hours to spend before my train arrived. I thought I had seen all the important sites in the city far earlier in the day, but this was just the first of many times I was reminded that there is always more to see in Spanish cities.
Tarragona is the site of the Catalan Human Tower competition, and they have a rather large life-size statue commemorating the celebration in the middle of one of their main plazas:
Spain is beautiful with its wonderfully restored buildings that remain in use even as they retain the original style of each area of the city. Even with energy-efficiency a high priority in Spain, as it is anywhere in Europe, the people are willing to sacrifice a great amount of light at night to illuminate the beauty of historic places:
Ok, ok... so you're wondering why I really didn't write more than usual. I promise, I will make another post to really describe MY experiences here... but first, let's travel back home to Barcelona.
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