Tarragona, Priorat wine and the Ebro Delta

Route description

Tarragona was Tarraco, the Roman capital of Hispania; see the amphitheatre above the beach and walk the Roman walls up to the cathedral. Then take the AP-2 or N-240 inland to the Monastery of Poblet, a walled Cistercian abbey where the kings of Aragon are buried and monks still live.

From Poblet the minor roads climb into the Priorat, a rugged region of steep terraces on dark slate soils that make some of Spain’s most prized wines. Siurana, a tiny village on the edge of a cliff above a reservoir, is famous with rock climbers; the last stretch of road is narrow and twisting.

Falset, the capital of the Priorat, has a modernista wine cooperative and plenty of tasting rooms. From here the N-420 leads down to the Ebro at Móra, and the C-12 follows the river south to Tortosa, with its cathedral and hilltop castle.

Finish in the Ebro Delta, a flat world of rice paddies, lagoons and sand spits alive with flamingos and herons. Explore by bike from Deltebre or drive out to the Trabucador sandbar. The rice fields are flooded and green from May to September, but bring mosquito repellent.