Tarragona - 20 September 2011 (2)

The Bells!

First stop was a café for more drinks.  My mum and Ann caught up with the last five years and reminisced about when they met and the other characters at the night school.  I chatted to James who I had not met before.  At 12.00, it got very noisy as two sets of bells nearby started to ring.  We paid our bill and moved on swiftly.

Roman Wall in Placa del Forum, Tarragona

Fountain in Placa del Forum, Tarragona

We wandered slowly through the town, looking for somewhere to eat.  I liked the brightly painted houses and the Plaça del Forum, which included a freestanding part of a Roman wall and two interesting fountains.  We walked past the Cathedral of Santa Maria and found a square where there were two open air restaurants.

Cathedral of Santa Maria, Tarragona

Tarragona Old Town

We ignored the first and more expensive restaurant and sat down in the smaller one after the lady had assured us that they could cope with a vegetarian.  My mum tasted gaspacho for the first time and liked it which was very good news.  I also had omelette and chips and then Ann, my mum and I all had the ubiquitous flan.  Once again, it was my mum’s first taste and again, she enjoyed it.  James kept topping my glass up throughout the meal, so I had quite a lot of wine and water.  My mum and Ann talked and talked the whole time.  For all I hadn’t seen Ann since before I went to university, she did not seem to have changed much.

Decorated Bollard, Tarragona

Statue end Rambla Nova, Tarragona

We still had nearly two hours before Ann and James had to catch their train, so we slowly wandered around the town and eventually reached La Rambla Nova.  We stopped at the end for another coffee and then made our way down the steps.  I chatted to James and left the other two Ann(e)s to chat and chat.

My timetable said that there was a train at 16.58 but, when we reached the station, we found there was one at 15.53.  Ann and James's train was at 16.08, so it worked out well.  When it was time, we said our goodbyes and went to our platform.  It was very narrow with less clearance around the steps to the subway than we get beyond the yellow lines on UK platforms.  The drop from the platform to the rail below was small, which explained why the step up into the train was so high.

Tarragona Station

A young guy kindly gave his seat up for my mum and I perched on the end.  From there I could see Ann and James waiting on their platform, so we waved.  Eventually they saw us and waved back.  The train was ten minutes late.  We waved at each other again as the train pulled in, until we lost eye contact.

When the train came in, there was a mad crush to get on.  The same guy offered his seat to my mum, but we said thankyou but no as we thought we would get two seats together further in.  Some hope.  Fortunately, the train started to empty at the next station and we managed to get two facing seats.