9 Best Sights in Tarragona, Catalonia, Valencia, and the Costa Blanca

Tarragona, the Emperor Augustus's favorite winter resort, had arguably the finest amphitheater in Roman Iberia, built in the 2nd century AD for gladiatorial and other contests. The remains have a spectacular view of the sea. You're free to wander through the access tunnels and along the tiers of seats. In the center of the theater are the remains of two superimposed churches, the earlier of which was a Visigothic basilica built to mark the bloody martyrdom of St. Fructuós and his deacons in AD 259.

This Gothic palauet (town house) built by Tarragona nobility in the 15th century includes stunning furnishings from the 18th and 19th centuries. The last member of the Castellarnau family vacated the house in 1954. The museum's highlight is the ballroom, whose ceiling is decorated with mythological motifs by the 18th-century Provençal painter Josep Bernat Flaugier.

Built between the 12th and 14th centuries on the site of a Roman temple and a mosque, this cathedral shows the transition from Romanesque to Gothic style. The initial rounded placidity of the Romanesque apse gave way to the spiky restlessness of the Gothic—the result is somewhat confusing.

The main attraction here is the 15th-century Gothic alabaster altarpiece of Sant Tecla by Pere Joan, a richly detailed depiction of the life of Tarragona's patron saint. Converted by Sant Paul and subsequently persecuted by local pagans, Sant Tecla was repeatedly saved from demise through divine intervention.

The always-entertaining fishing quarter and harbor are below the city near the bus station and the mouth of the Francolí River. Restaurants in the port, such as the popular El Pòsit del Serrallo (Moll des Pescadors 25), offer fresh fish in a rollicking environment.

A 1960s neoclassical building contains this museum housing the most significant collection of Roman artifacts in Catalonia. Among the items are Roman statuary and domestic fittings such as keys, bells, and belt buckles. The beautiful mosaics include a head of Medusa, famous for its piercing stare. Don't miss the video on Tarragona's history.

Just uphill from the fish market are this early Christian necropolis and museum. In 1923, the remains of a burial ground were discovered during the construction of a tobacco factory. The excavations on display—more than 2,000 tombs, sarcophagi, and funeral objects—allow visitors a fascinating insight into Roman funeral practices and rituals.

The family house of renowned cellist Pau (Pablo) Casals (1876–1973) is on the beach at Sant Salvador, just east of the town of El Vendrell. Casals, who left Spain in self-imposed exile after Franco seized power in 1939, left a museum of his possessions here, including several of his cellos, original music manuscripts, paintings, and sculptures. Other exhibits describe the Casals campaign for world peace ("Pau," in Catalan, means both Paul and peace), his speech at the United Nations in 1971 (at the age of 95), and his haunting interpretation of El Cant dels Ocells (The Song of the Birds), his homage to his native Catalonia. Across the street, the Auditori Pau Casals holds frequent concerts and, in July and August, a classical music festival. The museum is about 32 km (20 miles) south of Sitges, en route to Tarragona,

A 1½-km (1-mile) circular path skirting the surviving section of the 3rd-century-BC Ibero-Roman ramparts, this walkway was built on even earlier walls of giant rocks. On the other side of the path is a glacis, a fortification added by English military engineers in 1707 during the War of the Spanish Succession. Look for the rusted bronze of Romulus and Remus.

The plans just inside the gate of this 1st-century AD Roman arena show that what’s now visible is only a small corner of a vast space where 30,000 spectators once gathered to watch chariot races. As medieval Tarragona grew, the city gradually engulfed the circus. At one end stands the Praetorium tower, which is connected to the circus via an underground passageway.