It has been a super busy week this week! I started classes at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, where I'm taking an art history class and a film class. Both of my professors are young guys who are very interested in their fields--my film professor talked SO much the first class! The classes are going to be very interesting, though. We have a couple of field trips planned to art galleries around Barcelona in my art history class that I'm really excited about so I'm definitely looking forward to this semester!
This past weekend, my entire program went to Tarragona, a city about two hours south of Barcelona, for a weekend "study tour." Tarragona is famous because it was the capital of the Roman empire in Spain (Hisperia Citerior) during the time of the first emperor Augustus. Due to the extensive amount of Roman ruins in and surrounding Tarragona, it's been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so you can only imagine the amount of history we were about to encounter!
Day One
The first day, my group went to Torres Vineyards, which is about half an hour away from Barcelona. The Torres family is world-renowned throughout the world for their wine, and I'm sure some of you have tasted either their wines or their brandy, which they are also famous for. The tour of the vineyards was basically like Disneyland for adults. We watched an introductory film about the family and their history in the wine business, and then got on a tram and took a tour of the cellars and surrounding countryside. Inside the cellars, they had animated, hologram-esque figures of monks pouring wine, touting their long history of wine-making, etc. It was a little weird, but definitely very interesting. After, we sampled some of their white and red wine...considering it was 10:30 in the morning, I was a little buzzed.
Wine being stored in the underground cellar at Torres
However, that proved to be a good thing when we got to our next destination, Els Munts. Els Munts is a Roman villa outside of Tarragona that was the home of the Roman governor of the province. They were into the whole historical re-creation thing at Els Munts, too, which was fun but a little over the top when the tour guide, who was dressed head to toe in Roman gear and referred to herself as Faustina said we "looked like slaves" and then forced all of us to wear togas. It was a beautiful destination right next to the beach, though, and remarkably well preserved.
Ruins of a Roman aqueduct at Els Munts
Our last stop for the day, before reaching Tarragona, was a Roman quarry called El Médol. It was located in kind of a strange place--behind a gas station--but nevertheless was very interesting. The Romans basically created a massive crater in the ground in order to supply their cities in Spain with all the stone that they needed, but then left a huge spire in the ground that was apparently a natural occurrence. It was cool though because it showed how deep the Romans excavated the area, which is pretty deep. We only stayed at El Médol for a little bit, though, because it was freezing and even our tour guides wanted to go home.
Naturally occurring spire at El Médol
Day Two
Our second day was definitely my favorite. We started out the day by going to Montblanc, a medieval walled town close to Tarragona. It was freezing, but we went to two churches in town, the Church of Saint Michael and another cathedral which houses the second oldest organ in all of Europe! We then toured around the city with our guide and went to the Museu Comarcal de la Conca de Barbera, which shows the local crafts of Montblanc, such as making espadrilles and farming, and ended our tour at the top of a small hill overlooking the town, where we all snapped a bunch of pictures, despite the freezing wind.
Cathedral of Montblanc
After Montblanc, we headed to Poblet, a Cistercian monastery founded in 1151 by French monks. It is still a working monastery, and about 32 monks live there currently. Before our tour of the monastery, we went on a short hike in the wilderness surrounding Poblet. It was beautiful, and our tour guide told us all about the national parks in Spain while we were on our hike. After the hike, we went on a guided tour of the monastery and saw the kitchen, reading rooms, library, various chapels, main cathedral, and wine-making room of the monks, some of which are still in use today. The architecture of Poblet was absolutely breathtaking and the main altar was beautiful as well. Many royals of Spain were buried at Poblet, and their tombs had marble effigies of them carved on top, looking extremely peaceful in their eternal slumber. I managed to see one monk while we were at Poblet, but he didn't respond to my friendly "¡Hola!" due to that whole vow of silence thing.
Wine-making room at Poblet
Day Three
On our third day, we stayed in Tarragona and went on an extensive tour of the city. Because it was the capital, it is one of the few Roman cities that had an amphitheater, circus, and theater. The remains of the amphitheater, which I put a photo of at the beginning of the post, are still pretty well-preserved, but the circus and theater are a little less well-preserved. The city is beautiful as it is right on the ocean, and the sun was shining all day for our tour, which was great. We went to several museums to see some Roman artifacts found throughout the city during excavations, but it was really cool just walking down a street and seeing a marble Roman inscription right next to a telephone booth. We had a great day, but I was definitely exhausted on the bus ride back to Barcelona and took a looooong nap!
Me on top of the Forum of Tarragona
Next weekend, I'm going to Montserrat and a FC Barcelona game, so I will have lots more to write!
Lots of love,
Kelsey
This past weekend, my entire program went to Tarragona, a city about two hours south of Barcelona, for a weekend "study tour." Tarragona is famous because it was the capital of the Roman empire in Spain (Hisperia Citerior) during the time of the first emperor Augustus. Due to the extensive amount of Roman ruins in and surrounding Tarragona, it's been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so you can only imagine the amount of history we were about to encounter!
Day OneThe first day, my group went to Torres Vineyards, which is about half an hour away from Barcelona. The Torres family is world-renowned throughout the world for their wine, and I'm sure some of you have tasted either their wines or their brandy, which they are also famous for. The tour of the vineyards was basically like Disneyland for adults. We watched an introductory film about the family and their history in the wine business, and then got on a tram and took a tour of the cellars and surrounding countryside. Inside the cellars, they had animated, hologram-esque figures of monks pouring wine, touting their long history of wine-making, etc. It was a little weird, but definitely very interesting. After, we sampled some of their white and red wine...considering it was 10:30 in the morning, I was a little buzzed.
Wine being stored in the underground cellar at TorresHowever, that proved to be a good thing when we got to our next destination, Els Munts. Els Munts is a Roman villa outside of Tarragona that was the home of the Roman governor of the province. They were into the whole historical re-creation thing at Els Munts, too, which was fun but a little over the top when the tour guide, who was dressed head to toe in Roman gear and referred to herself as Faustina said we "looked like slaves" and then forced all of us to wear togas. It was a beautiful destination right next to the beach, though, and remarkably well preserved.
Ruins of a Roman aqueduct at Els MuntsOur last stop for the day, before reaching Tarragona, was a Roman quarry called El Médol. It was located in kind of a strange place--behind a gas station--but nevertheless was very interesting. The Romans basically created a massive crater in the ground in order to supply their cities in Spain with all the stone that they needed, but then left a huge spire in the ground that was apparently a natural occurrence. It was cool though because it showed how deep the Romans excavated the area, which is pretty deep. We only stayed at El Médol for a little bit, though, because it was freezing and even our tour guides wanted to go home.
Naturally occurring spire at El MédolDay Two
Our second day was definitely my favorite. We started out the day by going to Montblanc, a medieval walled town close to Tarragona. It was freezing, but we went to two churches in town, the Church of Saint Michael and another cathedral which houses the second oldest organ in all of Europe! We then toured around the city with our guide and went to the Museu Comarcal de la Conca de Barbera, which shows the local crafts of Montblanc, such as making espadrilles and farming, and ended our tour at the top of a small hill overlooking the town, where we all snapped a bunch of pictures, despite the freezing wind.
Cathedral of MontblancAfter Montblanc, we headed to Poblet, a Cistercian monastery founded in 1151 by French monks. It is still a working monastery, and about 32 monks live there currently. Before our tour of the monastery, we went on a short hike in the wilderness surrounding Poblet. It was beautiful, and our tour guide told us all about the national parks in Spain while we were on our hike. After the hike, we went on a guided tour of the monastery and saw the kitchen, reading rooms, library, various chapels, main cathedral, and wine-making room of the monks, some of which are still in use today. The architecture of Poblet was absolutely breathtaking and the main altar was beautiful as well. Many royals of Spain were buried at Poblet, and their tombs had marble effigies of them carved on top, looking extremely peaceful in their eternal slumber. I managed to see one monk while we were at Poblet, but he didn't respond to my friendly "¡Hola!" due to that whole vow of silence thing.
Wine-making room at PobletDay Three
On our third day, we stayed in Tarragona and went on an extensive tour of the city. Because it was the capital, it is one of the few Roman cities that had an amphitheater, circus, and theater. The remains of the amphitheater, which I put a photo of at the beginning of the post, are still pretty well-preserved, but the circus and theater are a little less well-preserved. The city is beautiful as it is right on the ocean, and the sun was shining all day for our tour, which was great. We went to several museums to see some Roman artifacts found throughout the city during excavations, but it was really cool just walking down a street and seeing a marble Roman inscription right next to a telephone booth. We had a great day, but I was definitely exhausted on the bus ride back to Barcelona and took a looooong nap!
Me on top of the Forum of TarragonaNext weekend, I'm going to Montserrat and a FC Barcelona game, so I will have lots more to write!
Lots of love,
Kelsey
Hey Peewok!
ReplyDeletewow i love reading all about ur amazing adventures! keep posting lots! i miss ya and love ya!