The amphitheatre was fabulous; not massive, but sunk down below the surrounding circus and street level, with a lovely view of the sea. It must have been quite a place to visit in the second century. It was, however, a huge heat trap, eliminating any offshore breeze that might have cooled elsewhere in the city and we had to seek out a place selling cold drinks in the shade immediately after visiting.

One of the first things we noticed in the city were the statues; there were quite a few and they were quite varied.

Architecture in the city was quite varied too.

I do like to take photos of street art when I see it on my travels and although Tarragona did not offer up many examples the ones I shot were of pretty reasonable quality.

The scenery along the shoreline of Tarragona was beautiful, affording views out over the railway line, amphitheatre, and sea, as well as granting us some small amount of breeze to combat the bone-penetrating heat of the day.

There wasn’t a lot to see in Cambrils although we didn’t look too hard; we were mostly keen to seek out something cool to drink by the time we got there.

The beach views along that stretch of coastline were all lovely; open, sandy beaches and gorgeous-looking sea to the horizon.

There were a few examples of some interesting-looking artwork along the beach area too.

We’d gone all inclusive but on the first night when we arrived at the hotel it was pretty late so there was no food or drinks actually available; we ended up having to walk around until we found a bar. Many mojitos were consumed.

Entertainment was a little lacking in the hotel in the evening but we discovered they didn’t really mind you popping next door to the Sunclub Salou hotel if you were buying drinks. And we were. My dad, being my dad, got roped up to take part in some balloon-based show.

We loved seeing the traditions played out, the sense of companionship, the noise and sights, and there was something about seeing mostly middle-aged and older people taking part in public group activities to the enjoyment of other people that reminded me somewhat of our time in China at the Temple of Heaven.

As the day wore on votes were cast and a new mayor was elected, thenceforth to be carried around by other members of the Abingdon morris dancers.

Since my wife had a close connection with one of the morris side members we were granted special dispensation to attend the evening’s entertainment later that day. The surroundings and music were wonderfully medieval and it proved to be a fabulous end to a thoroughly interesting day in Oxfordshire.

There are a few more photos from the election of 2012’s Mayor of Ock Street in Abingdon on Flickr – Abingdon Mayor’s Day 2012.

On a daily basis we would always spend some time in the streets of Cap de Salou simply because you had to in order to get anywhere; typically we would be venturing into Salou itself, possibly to then head further afield, but we make use of the beaches several times as in addition to the main beach of the area there were a fair number of sheltered coves with walkways down to them and provided a less busy, marginally more private place to expose our skin and frolic in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

Away from the beach areas the Spanish buildings were typical of the area, although there were a few interesting pieces of architecture here and there. There were a few areas with shops, a fairground that was dead during the week we were there, and a bar that we enjoyed a few evenings at.

While the rest of my family would mostly stay in the main beach area and the coves westwards towards Salou if they wanted to swim (when they weren’t back at the hotel) my wife and I were more into exploring and photographing what we found. On one of the days we headed to the main beach and then started clambering along the rocks of the shoreline since we’d seen other people doing so. That led to us finding a whole area of views and construction that the others with us missed. Although they probably weren’t that interested.

A few spots along the Salou beachfront contained some interesting structures; a brick and concrete dome and a metal sculpture were two notable ones.

Living near the sea but with a beach that is simply pebbles it’s always nice to see clean, golden white sands and the beach at Salou didn’t disappoint. Under the blue sky wide angle photographs of the beach always look so inviting.

I found some of the architecture of the buildings in Salou very appealing. There were elements of brutalism amongst the modernism that you come to expect in any hotel or apartment complexes raised in holiday destinations in the latter parts of the twentieth century. Getting under the buildings and looking up to their shaped balconies produced some pleasing angled photos against the sky.

Moving away from the shops took us through some more green and shaded spaces, looking beautifully welcoming against the scorching temperature we were feeling from the relentless sunshine pouring down on us from above.

We then came out on the main promenade separating the beach areas of the Salou from the beach. Everything seemed very clean, very bright, very wide, and incredibly photogenic which was good as I’m quite fond of taking advantage of photogenic things and taking photos of them, so that’s what I did before we started back along the coast to the hotel area once again.

There were some impressive, open courtyard areas as well as a few squares dotted around. The tall buildings that lined the often-twisting streets of Reus helped provide plenty of shade and made the place seem friendlier, more organic, less planned. We enjoyed our time there and the museum itself was a decent distraction (as well as a way to get out of the sun for a while). Back outside my eyes were constantly drawn to the different architectural styles although the very Mediterranean penchant for balconies on all the buildings was ever-present.

One of the nicer things about being an obvious tourist in places is that I find it easier to take photographs of people than I do back home. Probably due to the time of day that we were visiting there weren’t a huge number of people around in Reus but I fired off a few shots anyway, including one of my brother who phoned to let us know he and his wife would be joining us for some shopping and a drink at a bar after we’d been there for an hour.

We didn’t have a huge amount of time in Barcelona so we knew we wouldn’t be able to see everything the city had to offer but our first point to stop at would be Park Güell. During our time in Spain we also saw Antoni Gaudí‘s home town of Reus so seeing some of his designs in the flesh in Barcelona was an obvious choice to make. We decided to walk the streets of Barcelona from where the bus dropped us off as the day was pleasant enough and it would give us a chance to observe and photograph some of the fascinating architectural styles of the city’s building as we got a bit of exercise.

The walk proved to be longer than we’d anticipated although the views of the stunning facades on the buildings we passed as we strode along the Barcelona’s streets snapping photos were wonderful.