Tarragona’s fishing fleet is ninety strong; most of them are trawlers or purse seiners, the ships used for catching the bluefish species. The purse seiners put to sea at night, at ten o’clock in winter and midnight in summer, coming back to port in the morning, when the fish are auctioned off at the fish market. There is another auction of the white fish species in the afternoon, including anglerfish, hake, octopus, shrimps, cuttlefish and squid, which are all captured by day-fishing trawlers.

The importance of the fishing activity is reflected in Serrallo, the most typical working district of Tarragona. Built in the mid nineteenth century, its name comes from the term “serralls” used by the sailors to refer to the offshore skerries of small, irregular rocks. Serrallo’s current population is about 2000, only about 150 of whom still live from fishing. Nonetheless seafood cooking lives on not only in household kitchens but also in the restaurants of this area and throughout the town as a whole.

Despite the fluctuations in recent years’ catches, the fish market is still one of the most important activities in Tarragona’s economy. The Pòsit de Pescadorsstill does a healthy trade every day. Procedures have recently been changed from a classical auction to computerised techniques; this may have robbed the fish market of some of its traditional charm and magic but it has certainly smartened up procedures and increased its competitiveness.

In 2000, Unesco declared the city of Tarragona to be a World Heritage Site on the strength of its archaeological remains. This makes any visit to city a real journey back in time, especially to Roman times, to see the walls, the first construction made by the Romans after settling in the area, the circus, the amphitheatre, the necropolis and forum.

Tarragona tries to keep this past alive in many ways; witness the initiative of the city’s restaurateurs, who launched a few years ago an event known as “Tárraco a taula” (“Tarragona at the table”), to give diners a taste of the cooking enjoyed in Roman times.

So successful was this idea that it spawned an International Conference for the Dissemination of Roman History “Tárraco Viva”, held in the first fortnight of May. During this event there are exhibitions, literary readings, visits to the city’s various Roman remains, numerous representations of the era, lectures and concerts.

Visitors can take part in banquets put on by some of the city’s participating restaurants or make their way to the Thermopolium, set up in the gardens of the Camp de Mart and involving the participation of several of the capital’s cafés, confectioner’s and hotels.

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