Saturday in Tarragona

Yesterday, Megan and I went to Tarragona, a Spanish town with Roman roots about an hour down the coast. We took a train and were in T. by 10:15 am. We decided to wing it and just walk into the town and see what we could see. We did, however, come across an information booth and a lady gave us a map and circled some areas where we would see the most interesting ruins and buildings. The area of town we walked around was the 'old town' and had lots of shops, as well as the ruins and tunnels and churches interspersed. It was COLD out, because of the wind and the clouds.. We walked by the ampiteatre (spanish spelling), the Circ Roma (a long underground tunnel where races were held), other places, and the large Catedral. While at the ampiteatre, we stopped to play in a park; it was very tempting to swing and climb on the equipment. The only place we went inside was the Catedral, and it was absolutely beautiful and very old! We were not supposed to take photos, but we did sneak a few. The inside was full of arches, and side rooms with artwork, statues, sculptures, paintings, etc. The main sanctuary was huge. We got to watch someone ring the bells for noon, which was very neat. The Catedral also had an outdoor courtyard surrounded by a semi-open passageway, very beautiful as well. Afterward, we went to find lunch, and had some not so good pasta. We then walked to the more modern area of town to see the Rambla Nova and the Castels statue. This tree lined walk was a smaller, more peaceful version of Barcelona's Las Ramblas.
After our escapades with the statue, we walked to the beach (a very long walk..but worth it). We rolled up our pants and walked into the surf for a refreshing and COLD bit of water. We also met some boogie borders who were enjoying the surf (they had wetsuits to keep them warm!). We continued our walk to the rocks and walked to a point jutting into the sea to take some photos, before heading back to the train station. On our way to the station, we ran into some people from our hall who did not leave as early as we did, said hi, and then went home. I really liked the town and all there was to see. I would like to go back when it gets warmer to visit the beaches, as Tarragona supposedly has the best beaches in the Catalonian province of Spain.