Muralla Romana and Jardin de Sant Antoni

Starting my walk on the Champ de Mars, I skirted the city wall from the east and went out onto St. Anthony Street (Passeig Sant Antoni), where a part of the wall built by the Romans has been preserved.

Over time, the wall lost its defensive functions and multi-storey residential buildings were built right into it.

Some houses were attached to the wall, and window and balcony openings were cut through the old masonry.

Since ancient times, the main entrance to the city has been located in this part of the wall, now we can see it in the baroque design of the 18th century. I will tell you about the gate in the next article..

Opposite the walls, there is a small garden of St. Anthony, named after the monastery located on this site, founded in 1299. The monastery belonged to the Mercederian Order of Mercy. Here you can see one of the oldest monuments of Tarragona - the cross of St. Anthony (Creu de Sant Antoni). The cross, with Jesus on one side and the Virgin Mary on the other, appeared in front of the city gates at the end of the 14th century, as evidenced by the record of the receipt of payment by the master Dalmau Balcells for the work performed in 1388. At the beginning of the 17th century, the cross was placed on a column topped with a drum with bas-reliefs of saints, and on the base on four sides the coat of arms of the city is depicted and the number 1608 is stamped. There was also a shady corner with a fountain in the park, which was very useful, it was so hot (December, however...).

Orange trees grow here at every turn, at this time the fruits are already ripe, you can eat them, but they are very sour, it is an ornamental variety. Those that are sold in stores and on the market are grown on farms, and, oddly enough, they are sold all year round at the same price, which is not much appreciated in other European countries, including the northern ones. no comparison with those.

There is a staircase leading down from the garden, which leads to the seashore - to Fort de Reina and Miracle Beach, but there was no time to go there, so the plans were to explore the Upper Town and visit the Cathedral.