Viaje a Tarraco! / Journey to Tarragona!

As part of the IES experience at Barcelona, all the students in Liberal Arts and Business program were required to attend a mandatory study journey to Tarragona - in ancient times know as Tarraco. This is a city with more than 2000 years of history greatness and decay. The city gained great relevance in the Roman period and was one of the most important cities in the Mediterranean.

Thursday morning, there were eight buses that were filled with students and faculty. My bus departed at around 8:30 in the morning on Thursday. Each bus did different activities each day so that we did not over-crowd any location. We got to Tarraco just around 10 and our tour had begun. First we visited the Roman Amphitheater, which was a building meant for gladiator fights, upon which a Visigothic basilica and a Romanesque church were built. Next we then visited the Circus which was a building meant for horse and chariot races. We walked around and passed Placa del rei and Placa del forum on our way to a famous Cathedral. We also saw the Roman walls, which were built to protect the city. We then had free time for lunch. We then visited the National Museum (we looked around and saw a short video of the history of Tarraco), the Forum and finally the Mediterranean Balcony. Most of the students decided to take a siesta (nap) before dinner. Since we were over 400 students, we were split into 4 different hotels and we all ate at our respective hotels.

Friday morning, everyone got wake up calls at 8 and we had to be in the lobby by 9am! We visited a vineyard of Bodegas Torres. We watched a short film and learnt about the history and awards Torres has won over the years. We went on a train tour through the vineyards, around manufacturing units. We had lunch at Altafulla. My group walked around the beach since we had to wait an hour and a half before being served! We finally had some Spanish food and then headed off towards El Mèdol. The construction materials for the Roman ruins in Tarraco came from this quarry. We then went to the villa of Els Munts. It was a wealth, pleasure and leisure place for high Roman officials. We were too all too exhausted by the end of the day. We went back had some free time and had dinner at the hotel.

Saturday morning, once again we got wake up calls at 8 and had to be ready, checked out of the hotel by 9am! We visited a majestic monastery at Poblet. It was quite big and interesting; our tour guide explained the history during the tour. We then went to the Paraje Natural. We were told that we would be hiking, but it wasn’t that bad at all. The scenery was beautiful despite the cold weather. We had some lunch and headed over to Montblanc. It was a fortified royal town and a important center in history. Our tour guide took us around the town and then we finally headed off back to Barcelona.

The trip was overall successful. The only complaint I had was that there were too many activities that were organized and a lot of us were tired and exhausted (which somewhat was also due to the lack of sleep). But at the end everyone was finally glad to be back to Barcelona!

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