171 / 344
165
turn right out of the station and climb the steps ahead of you to reach the
Rambla Nova, by the statue of Roger de Llúria (10min), from where the
Rambla Vella and the old town are just a short walk around the balcony
promenade.There are
taxis
outside the station.The
Oficina de Turisme
is
at c/Major 39 in the old town (July–Sept Mon–Sat 9am–9pm, Sun 10am–
3pm; Oct–June Mon–Sat 10am–2pm & 4–7pm, Sun 10am–2pm;
T
977 250
795,
W
www.tarragonaturisme.cat).
The pretty old-town squares, like Plaça del Rei, Plaça del Fòrum and Plaça de
la Font are the best places for outdoor drinks. The latter in particular features
more than a dozen
cafés
,
bars and restaurants
serving everything from tapas
to pizzas.
La Cuca Fera
, Pl. Santiago Rossignol 5 (
T
977 242 007; closed Tues,
Wed & three weeks in Feb) serves moderately priced Catalan dishes with tables
below the cathedral in one of Tarragona’s loveliest backdrops.
El Llagut
,
c/Natzaret 10 (
T
977 228 938), on Plaça del Rei, is good for seafood and rice
dishes. Pricier is
Les Coques Vells
, c/Nou Patriarca (
T
977 228 300; closed Sun
& July), at around €40 a head for fine dining. Otherwise, a good place for lunch
is down in
Serrallo
,Tarragona’s so-called fishermen’s quarter, a fifteen-minute
walk west along the industrial harbourfront from the train station.You’ll get a
tasty paella down here – try along c/Sant Pere, one block back from the
harbour, at places like
Cal Marti
at no. 12 (
T
977 212 384; closed Sun dinner)
and
Cal Brut
at no. 14 (
T
977 241 405; closedWed, and Sun dinner).
Reus
Fourteen kilometres northwest of Tarragona, and 100km southwest of
Barcelona, the small city of
REUS
was the birthplace of architect Antoni Gaudí,
who was born here in 1852.There was little in his early life in Reus to indicate
what was to come. He was born to a humble family of boilermakers and
coppersmiths, and left for Barcelona when he was 16 years old. Consequently,
there are no Gaudí buildings in Reus itself, but there is a fascinating interpreta-
tive centre dedicated to the city’s most famous son that’s essential viewing for
anyone interested in his life and work.You can easily see the centre and the rest
of the sights in Reus in a day out from Barcelona – actually, it’s a charming small
city of 100,000, full of pretty squares, good restaurants and handsome pedestri-
anized shopping streets.
The City
The
Gaudí Centre
, in the central Plaça del Mercadal (Mon–Sat 10am–2pm &
4–8pm, mid-June to mid-Sept 10am–8pm, Sun all year 10am–2pm; €6;
W
www
.gaudicentre.com), is a gleaming box of a building, converted from a former
bank, that throws much light on the inspiration behind Gaudí’s work. It’s not
really a museum as such, though there are exhibits including his former school
reports, his only surviving manuscript notebook and a reproduction of the
architect’s study-workshop at the Sagrada Família. Instead, the centre cleverly
investigates the architectural techniques pioneered by Gaudí, with hands-on
demonstration models and audiovisual aids that show how he created wave
roofs and spiral towers, for example. If you ever wondered why none of Gaudí’s
door frames are straight, or what trees, ferns and snails have to do with archi-
tecture, the centre is undoubtedly the place to find out.
OUT OF THE CITY
|
Reus