Tarragona

Thus began the adventure of the trains. Our hotel in Barcelona was located very near the airport. The airport in Barcelona has a small train station with one train and one platform that will take you to the main train station where you can connect to any other train. So we packed our bags, took the free shuttle to the airport, got on the only train and went to Sants Station to buy our tickets to Tarragona. They only cost like $7, which was great, but the ticket lady was not so friendly and barked for us to go to 9. We presumed this meant platform nine but went to check the board. Like all trains, they are listed by their final destination. Of course Tarragona is an intermediate station and of course it was not listed anywhere. I couldn't recognize any matching locations on my rail map that seemed to be going in the correct direction. However, we have learned to take advantage of the information booths as they are always very friendly and helpful. I asked them for help and they also told me to go to platform nine. So we went to platform nine and got on the train and it took us back to the airport. I asked a ticket agent there to help me and he told me to go back to Sants and connect there. We went back to Sants and found another ticketing agent and asked him. I was told again to go to platform nine. I asked him to clarify the final location so I knew which train to get on at platform nine because I had already been there and it went back where I had already come from. All he kept saying was to go to platform nine. By this point we had to go back through the turnstile and the ticket wouldn't work anymore. So we said screw it and bought another ticket. I was growing increasingly angry as the morning went along. However, this ticketing lady was very nice and very helpful, told me the time the next train departed (of course we just missed one and the next was over an hour) and also told me the final destination so I knew I was getting on the correct train. After the whole ordeal we arrived in Tarragona about three hours later than we had planned. I had a map and walking directions to get to the hotel. Fortunately Tarragona is easy to navigate because I was very grouchy and Mom is bad with maps so I found the way very easily. Tarragona was totally dead when we went out, likely because it was a Saturday and the middle of the afternoon. We found a tapas bar to have some lunch and then explored the city. The city iself is very cool, a mini-Rome, actually an important city within the Roman Empire that used to have twice the population it has today. Much of the old Roman wall remains, as well as the amphitheatre, forum, and circus. There is an old Cathedral built on the remains of a Temple to Jupiter built around 200BC, supposedly a site where Paul preached. We saw the archeaological museum in addition to all the major sites. We had noticed in Barcelona on Friday that there were a lot of people in costumes, and more and more began to appear in Tarragona. The city was dead at 3pm but by 7pm it was crazy. Everyone was out, everyone was dressed up. There was a parade and fireworks, and some very creative costumes. We saw the Flinstone family complete with their car, pac-man being chased by ghosts, a box of donuts, a group of men dressed as cheerleaders with their wives dressed as football players. We did not realize this was carnival week, the final celebration before Lent-the Spanish equivalent of Mardi Gras. We had dinner at a restaurant called San-Ric. They had a very ice collection of wines, we got a ten year old bottle for only 20 euros and it was very good. We did a lot of walking that day as well and were very tired. On Sunday we went to Sitges, another adventure by train. I'll add more about that later.