Roman Tarragona

While it does not quite make up for not seeing Rome, I saw aqueducts today!!!!

When Tarragona was the provincial capital, it was an important city, so access to fresh water was key to its success.  The portion that is still standing is 4 km from the city.  It has two rows of arches that are 26 meters high. It was built in the first century AD.  The majority of aqueducts were underground, but there were areas where the best way to maintain the constant flow of water required them to build aqueducts as bridges.

There have been people living and building in Tarragona for more than two thousand years. They recycle stones from old buildings, borrow the arches of an existing structure, and sometimes that causes some interesting choixes to be made. Below is the corner of a building erected using stones from many places throughout the city.  Unfortunately, they included grave stones as well!

Tarragona was a significant ancient Roman city.  It was even the 

imperial of the Roman Empire between 26-25 BC when Caesar Augustus was living there while emperor.  Among the structures were temples, mansions, forums, a circus, and an amphitheater.

Below are the ruins of the spectator seating of the circus. The levels provided seating for 30,000 people to watch chariot races.  The circus was built near the end of the first century AD and separated the provincial and city government forums and administrative buildings.

The only other portion of the 325 meter long circus is the head of the circus where the racers would sharply turn for each pass down the long stretch. Charioteers would race around the long track seven times - once for each day of the week. I picture ancient NASCAR, but with literally two or four horse power! 😁

The last major structure built by the Romans in Tarragona before the collapse of the Roman Empire was the amphitheater.  It was built outside of the city walls because they had run out of space, but its location next to the sea makes for a beautiful view.  The amphitheater was built in the second century to accommodate gladiator fights.  After the fall of Rome, the Visigoths built a temple in the center of the amphitheater in the sixth century and in the twelfth century, a Romanesque Christian church was built on top of that as well. The only parts of those buildings left are the foundations that are shaped as a cross.

A benefit of the aqueducts in the Roman cities was the fresh running water available to all of the citizens.  Those fountains can still be found throughout the city today. The fountain below is one of a matching set located at the base of the stairs leading to the Cathedral of Tarragona.  It still works and I saw several people drink from it today.

This was the best that I could do for a picture of me with the aqueduct.  The area with the best view was too crowded for a selfie.  Unfortunately, I have not mastered the selfie stick enough to capture my true reaction!