Roman amphitheater at sunrise

Cobmming back from fishing guarter Serallo and rising to the Upper town along the Palm Avenue (Paseo de les Palmeres map) you can see the full panorama Roman amphitheatre (Teatro romano de Tarraco map).

Theatre built during the reign of Emperor Augustus in the first century BC. The building was a status that determined the Tarraco as the capital of the Imperial province. The rostrum could accommodate up to 12 thousand spectators gathered to watch theatrical productions, gladiatorial fights and executions.

At the present time only five of the lower tiers of the stands. In 2000 the ruins listed among the UNESCO world heritage site called the Archaeological ensemble of Tarocco. The amphitheatre is open for visitors, but unfortunately, not during Christmas holidays, so I didn't get there.

Two days earlier, passing through the Alley of Palm trees on Mediterranean balcony, I took a few pictures, but the view from up there is shielded by vegetation.

In 259 ad here for the first time in the Iberian Peninsula were publicly executed Christian martyrs burned at the stake Fructuos the Bishop and his deacons and Eulogius Augurius (Fructuosus, Augurius and Eulogius), later declared saints. In the early middle ages, in the 12th century on the territory of the amphitheater was built in the Christian Church, whose remains are the ruins of a cruciform.