Tortosa

We were up at 7:30am before sunrise. It was a quiet night although incredibly stuffy. Now we had electric I left the fan on all night.
First thing I did when I got up was check Wanda’s charger. The battery bar was flicking between 3/4 and full so I was pleased with that. We would be leaving Wanda here most of the day and hopefully tonight so by the time we leave we should be good for quite a few days. More if it is really sunny.
After breakfast at 9:30 we decided to walk down the viaverde greenway to Tortosa. In a straight line it was only about a mile away and it really gave us a chance to look around.
The walk was beautiful, we saw a red squirrel and there was some housing for abandoned cats with food, water and CCTV to watch over them, just off the path. We crossed over the Ebre river via an old steel railway bridge and then we were in Tortossa.
The city was nothing like we expected, it was relatively quiet and felt calm. Yes there was traffic and people but it didn’t seem to have the rush about it like London or Paris. We turned left off the bridge, crossed over the road where traffic actually stopped for us and headed for this huge building just off the rivers edge. The building had huge doors and tables and chairs outside and at first we thought it was a giant restaurant. Infact it turned out to be a giant food market where you could buy any sort of food imaginable. There was fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, hot food to eat in or take away, cold food to eat in or take away, tinned stuff, packet stuff, dried food, you name it they had it and was a real feast for the eyeballs.
I had a spanish tortilla, tucked inside a fresh baked baguette and a lattè. The food was delicious and they really know how to make coffee here.
We left the food market the opposite end we entered and came out into a bustling street of shops and cafes. We looked around a few of the original shops before walking up a hill and coming to an ancient Roman archway. It was amazing to see the carvings and sculptures on the walls, and now we had entered the old town.
It was distinctly different with it’s old brickwork, and huge three and four story buildings with iron railed balconies and shuttered doors and windows. Also we were back to allyways with original wooden doors and arched doorways.
We walked on and found a huge church but we couldn’t seem to find an entrance and from there we climbed some steps taking the tourist route upto the castle.
The castle is now a privately owned hotel so we couldn’t get inside but we could get to the battlements ruins and they were massive. Standing on the top you could see how far the castle stretched and it must have been 3/4 mile in either direction with the castle in the middle. In it’s day it was the largest castle in the Iberian peninsula and it must have looked glorious and formidable to anyone viewing it from the outside.
We left the battlements and headed back down into the city. We did look for the old Roman baths but Ellie started to feel unwell again and we headed out of the city back towards the river and rested in the park before walking back to Wanda down the cycleway.
We had walked 5.5 miles in total, and it was a very sticky day so arriving back at Wanda we both took a nap for 30 minutes and recovered from the heat.
At 3:30pm we left the Airè to go and view the house in Els Reugers. We were abit early so parked at the bottom of the mountains and that’s when I realised it was a cycling route and the length of the mountain climb and gradients were marked out from the bottom up.
This would have been a great house to buy if we both wanted to move here. The inside of the house was just as beautiful and quaint as the outside and the estate agent explain all about how the house used to work, and it had a mezzanine floor in it so the farmers could sleep on that while the animals slept downstairs. It was fascinating but he already told us when he arrived it was no longer up for sale but we could rent it. We will keep an eye on Air B&B and see if it comes up.
On leaving Els Reugars I realised my back wheel had yet another puncture, the fourth since we’ve been here so we went to decathlon to find some more but they just had crap ones there, I did find a cycle shop nearby so that’s what we’re doing in the morning.
We eventually got back to Roquettes and the Airè after stopping at McDonald’s en route at 7:30pm. There was just one free space left. Partly because the idiots at the end had wound out there awning and were taking up 2 spaces.
Then we put the TV on and chilled for the rest of the evening with both the fans roaring away and both roof vents open it is still 24°c outside and 26 inside.Read more