Near Tarragona
Wednesday–Thursday September 15–16, 2010
The wine colored segment is Girona to Tarragona. The blue is today’s route.
Our first stop is Les Ferreres Aqueduct. Our books are not really helpful at figuring out how to drive to it, but the GPS comes through. We are the only visitors at the site, situated in a park. The span is over 700 feet long (217 meters) and the highest part is 88 feet (27 meters). It is undergoing restoration.
This photo shows just a part of the aqueduct, overall an impressive structure.
Next, back on to the highway and north to the Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Poblet, another monument on the World Heritage list. This isolated Cistercian monastery got started in 1151. The monks said very little to one another, we learned on the mandatory guided tour.
It is a large structure.
There is a museum up the staircase.
Inside the church are tombs of kings of Aragon. Here’s one.
We drove next to the small town of Montblanc for lunch. There is an intact wall around the town, with more than a dozen towers. Afterwards, we continued to the second of three once–powerful Cistercian monasteries in the area, the Royal Monastery of Santes Creus. It, too is isolated.
This is no longer a working monastery, so a guided tour wasn’t required. The documentary multi–media presentation that is well worth a visitor’s time.
It is also large, and a more pleasant looking place than Poblet.
The church is narrow, dark and obviously old.
The English brochure said this type of stained glass is rare in Spain.
This bishop died in 1360.
The cloister contains more dead royalty.
Cistercians,we’re told, did not approve of decoration, but this cloister is the exception, as each column has a unique design.
This monastery, unlike the other two, was built also as a fort.
Our last stop today is a “villa” outside Tarragona dating back to the Roman Empire. As was the case with the aqueduct, the guidebooks are not really helpful in helping us find it. But the GPS came through by getting us to the little town. Once inside, we saw signs directing us to the monument.
The Villa Romana de Cencelles is not much to look at from the outside.
Inside is a freestanding dome, with some of the original art intact.
The structure was built in the third century AD, but what is here now dates to the fourth century AD, and there is a blend of Christian and Roman religions in the illustrations. These two photos have been lightened considerably by the computer.
Here is the map of our travel so far, 439 miles/707 kilometers.
We’re taking day trip to see two monasteries and more Roman ruins just outside of the city.
Next—Valencia.
