Tarragona: A City Carved in Stone and Sunlight
Paco Tovar, award-winning tour guide and co-founder of Argos Tarragona, invites us to rediscover his hometown. With a mix of history and passion, he shows how Tarragona holds the soul of Rome in its alleys, ancient stones, and Mediterranean views.
Tarragona could look like any city on the Mediterranean shore. Which it is, by the way. Nice beaches, heritage, healthy Mediterranean diet, yummy rice and seafood recipes and more.
But…close your eyes and open them in any spot of our streets in the old city. Narrow streets, houses with the washing hanging on the balconies. And a yellowish colour everywhere from the sandstone blocks which shaped our Roman past and fills our present: is it Italy? Naples? Any charming “viccolo” in Rome? At the end, in Rome that colour is called “giallo antico”, literally old yellow.
Because indeed we’re in Rome. Tarragona is the oldest Roman settlement outside Italy, we were chosen by Emperor Augustus to stay two years, so technically we’ve been the capital city of the Empire during his stay, and honoured as capital city of the Hispania Citerior Tarraconensis province for almost 400 years. Roman remains everywhere, as in Rome. Even behind our Medieval jewel, the Gothic (and impressive) cathedral. And hidden for centuries, I’ll never forget that lady in her splendid late eighties laughing while she was looking at the Roman circus and its seats: “I was born there, and at last I understand why there was a bench attached to my dining room”.
History around. And stories within: if not, try to have a walk around la Rambla Nova, our main avenue, and order a nice ice-cream and eat it while looking at the sea in the Mediterranean Balcony. No need to be during our feast days in summer: at that moment perhaps you’d realize Tarragona is a feast all year long.
