Day 5: Topping the Trip in the Pyrenees

 

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The Boys woke up no worse for wear! Headache free from many Aqua de Valencia's, they were juiced up and full of vim, vigor, and vitamin C!! Grabbing coffees for the road, Mike and Bone headed further up the coast toward Barcelona, with Tarragona as their objective!

 

Moving through Mid-Spain along the Mediterranean 

Tarragona, Mike and Bone's next stop was just shy of 3 hours up the road, as the Boys traced up through middle of Spain to the northern, Catalonian region the landscape became much more hilly and the signs were in both Spanish and Catalan! Soon they got into Tarragona and found that their Roman ruins were a big deal to the city.

There were crowds everywhere, with Traffic cops directing tourist trying to find a place to park,,,, that included Mike and Bone! Finding a place to park, the Boys bolted out in the searing 99 degree heat to get inline to visit the Roman ruins.  

 

Tearing Through Tarragona!  

The Archaeological Ensemble of Tarragona is a collection of remarkably preserved ancient Roman ruins in and around the modern city of Tarragona, Spain, and was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.  Waiting in line to get into the Boys read about the importance of this site.

Tarragona was  developed in a favorable location on a coastal hill by ancient Romans in the context of the Second Punic War near a previous Iberian settlement, Tarragona eventually became the gateway for Roman control of the Iberian Peninsula. It served as the capital, successively, of the provinces of Hispania Citerior and Hispania Tarraconensis for the Romans.

Scholars have suggested that the city may have been established by the Phoenicians, who referred to it as “Tarchon.” Which according to Samuel Bochart, means a citadel. That moniker likely stems from its location atop a high rock, approximately 250–300 ft above sea level; earning it the epithet “arce potens Tarraco!” (In Latin!)

 

Mike and Bone in the Tarragona Roman Amphitheatre!

Strategically Tarragona lies on the main road along the northeastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula that connects with Rome, hence its importance. During the Roman Republic, the city was fortified and much enlarged as a Roman colony by the brothers Publius Cornelius Scipio and Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus, who converted it into a fortress and arsenal against the Carthaginians.

It also hosted some celebrities; Augustus wintered at Tarragona after his Cantabrian campaign, and bestowed many marks of honor on the city, among which were its honorary titles of Colonia Victrix Togata and Colonia Julia Victrix Tarraconensis.   According to the historian Mela, it was the richest town on the coast, commented that its population was equal to that of Carthago Nova (now Cartagena). Its fertile plain and sunny shores are celebrated by Martial and other poets; and its neighborhood is described as producing good wine and flax. The city also minted coins for the Empire.  Mike and Bone soon found themselves at top of the line for tickets and in the Amphitheatre, enroute they friended a pair of Scot's who were wilting even more that the Boys in the mid day heat. walking around a bit Mike and Bone left the Amphitheatre to check out the other Roman sites in Tarragona!

 

The Roman Forum

“Arce potens Tarraco, my ass!” the Boys declared trudging up the hill in the heat, crossed the street and strolled past ancient Roman defensive ramparts that date back to the 3rd century BC.

 

"Muralla Romana de Tarragona" (the Roman Walls)

Next, Mike and Bone walked through the underground vaulted tunnels of the ancient Roman Circus where chariot races took place. This included walking pas the eastern sector of the Circus, known as the vaults of Sant Ermenegild and the 'Porta Triumphalis'

The first arch on the Circus façade provided access to a long vaulted passageway that ran parallel to the defensive wall and led to a monumental stairway at its end, which allowed spectators to reach the northern side of the building. This vault was approximately 300 feet long, although today only half of it remains. The lateral walls of the vault are concrete (opus caementicium) and lined with rows of small ashlars (opus vittatum), while the roof is a semicircular arch also made of concrete. It should be said that in the Roman Circus of Tarraco all the vaults that have lateral walls of opus vittatum are public access zones.

 

Mike, enjoying the Circus

 

Along the western side of this long vault the Boys saw six semicircular arched doorways that lead to six small spaces in a roughly radial configuration, as this is where the eastern side of the Circus curves. These rooms have inclined vault roofs which served as the foundations for the stands above.

The end of the preserved section of the long vault coincides exactly with the building's longitudinal axis, an important fact as it is at this point that the long vault meets another transversal vault that connected one of the main entrances to the Circus, known as the Porta Triumphalis, with another in the city walls. The only preserved part of this latter vault is its southern wall, which is also lined with rows of small ashlars (opus vittatum).

The current sad state is the fault of the French, all the vaults of the Circus between this point and the vault that runs below Enrajolat Street were destroyed by the Napoleonic troops just before they withdrew from the city in 1813.  Fortunately enough of the structure still exists to provide a shaded section to check out some amazing Roman artifacts.

 

Roman Artifacts from the Site

After walking through the Roman Circus, the Boys were cooking, it was 103 outside and they were ready for some car air conditioning!  Problem was, where was the car!?!

 

"Car 54?!? Where are You!!!!"

Mike "knew" where the car was! Nope! Bone knew where the car was! Nope! The Boys walked down then back up the hill hellbent on getting out of the sun! Finally, the Google helped the Boys find the rental, now heat-addled, and parched, they slowly tooled out of Tarragona, it was a cool place on a hot day!

 

Blowing off Barcelona and Barreling to the Pyrenees

 

Mike and Bone started driving north, originally they considered staying in Barcelona, neither found it that amazing and decided it was time to go to "no mans land" Not Spain, not France, but Catalan in the Pyrenees! That iconic mountain range that separates France from Spain, has it own set of unique peoples. To the north Pyrenees, you have the Basque region, in the south, the Catalans. 

 

ln No Man's Land, or Catalan!

Barreling into the Pyrenees, the Boys started to get hungry, they hadn't had anything since breakfast so they looked for a town that would have both a restaurant and a place to stay for the night!

 

Mike and Bone, about to storm the Gates of Villefranche-de-Conflent!

Barreling into the Pyrenees, the Boys started to get hungry, they hadn't had anything since breakfast so they looked for a town that would have both a restaurant and a place to stay for the night! That place turned out to be the very cool fortress town of Villefranche-de-Conflent! Villefranche-de-Conflent is historically a town in the Conflent region of Catalonia, and now a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. It is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (The Most Beautiful Villages of France) Association. Despite it being in France, the Town and its people all speak Catalan (and pretty good English!)

 

The Iconic Pyrenees

The Boys observed two interesting things, one the temperature dropped to a VERY comfortable 65 degrees, two the VERY cool town appeared to be closed or soon to be closing! They did a quick tour of town, primarily to find a restaurant, having success. 

 

Consuming Catalonian Cuisine!

Finding a little Family (truly Family run!) restaurant, the Owner in broken English sent his only English-speaker waitress (of the two waitress) to take the Boys orders. Mike and Bone ordered a two local red wines, and the Catalan specialty Botifarra amb Mongetes a hearty and rustic pairing of grilled local pork sausage with tender white beans, Crema Catalana (just creme brule) for desert.

Walking around the town, they did not see a hotel, so Mike and Bone asked the Owner if he knew of a good place to stay, He smiled and said, "I have a friend with a B&B right out of town"!

So after dinner the Boys drove over to the B&B as the sun was setting,  they drove into a yard filled with junk. They walked up to a faded glory of a house, it was nice enough, it its day. However the dust everywhere and the stale smell of old stuff gave the place the vibe of the Addams Family house. Mike looked and Bone, Bone looked at Mike, both shook their head thanked the man and headed back to the car.

Bone had an idea, they were not that far from Rennes-le Chateau, the source of the whole Jesus married Mary Magdalene rumor that spawned the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and the DaVinci Code movie. Why not veer off of the whole Roman thing and get into a conspiracy theory!!  So they plotted the 1 hour 52 minutes route through the Pyrenees from Villefranche-de-Conflent  to Renne-le-Chateau. Little did they know what a ride it would be!

 

Change in Direction!

So Bone was behind the wheel and his driving was, well, driving Mike to throw up! So they changed places, just at the wrong time (or right time) after they went through this little village, the road went from hairpin turns and switchbacks, to pretty much spaghetti with no guardrails and cliffs!

 

Twisting and Turning in the Dark!

It was supposedly only under two hours, but two hours on that back road through and by sheer cliffs, with no lights anywhere, was to say the lease, interesting! After an fascinating drive between two cliffs (pictured above) the road start to straighten out and flatten into a French country road that led the Boys into the quaint little village of Rennes-le-Chateau!

 

A Kindred Spirit!

Bone booked a B&B called Maison Vive La Vie, struggling a bit in finding the place, (Google took them two building away), they found the Innkeeper to be cordial and friendly sort, He was also a HUGE Cathar nut! A part of the whole Priory of Sion and Holy Blood Holy Grail story was the Cathar's, who believed the universe was a cosmic battle between a good spiritual God and an evil material god. They rejected the Roman Catholic version of Christianity. Well, that did not work to well in Catholic France, and the Pope authorized the French King to slaughter the Cathars, right there in Rennes-le Chateau! Francois and Bone shared with Mike all the very cool things in history that happened in the sleepy little section of southwest France. Finally around Midnight, the Boys crashed with thoughts of crusades running through their dreams.