Rounding Out The Road Trip

Following our second night in Tangier — gosh we both hated leaving that place so soon, we ferried back to Tarifa (the southernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula) and drove north and west to Cadiz, Spain.  Expecting a small beach resort town, we encountered yet another city surrounded by ultra-modern high-rises and communities on the outside and an old town with tiny cobblestone streets inside the city wall.  It sits on the Bay of Cadiz just off the Atlantic Ocean; its beach rewarded us with a spectacular sunset.  Next morning we walked a complete circle around the old town and moved on to Seville in the rain.

We kept the car overnight and in the morning drove to Carmona, Spain looking for olive oil-tasting opportunities.  Once there we learned that the olive oil tasting was done at a farm 15 K from town in the opposite direction.  Not today.  Besides seeing centuries-old stone churches and plazas and the ancient gates to the city overlooking a valley of farmland, we literally stumbled upon a really great find . . . a Roman necropolis and ruins of a Roman amphitheater.  Let think about that for a moment.  A Roman necropolis right here in southern Spain.

When I read “the Romans,” I think of Roman armies, Roman soldiers.  I never imagined “the Romans” might include families, but they did.  The necropolis was a burial ground for noble and important families.  In those pre-Christ days, a funeral involved cremation over a wood fire until the bones calcified.  The ashes were gathered and stored in an urn or stone box and placed in a cubby hole carved inside a stone-lined room/grave dug in the ground.  Most graves had steps to allow entry for other burials or visitations.   Families gathered in the grave on holidays or special days to share a meal with their ancestors.   Most of the graves we saw had been excavated with the top open for viewing; the artifacts had all been removed and now reside in museums.  A small museo on the Necropolis grounds presented some urns, pottery, and boxes for display.

I thought the amphitheater located in a field just across the street was astounding.  It had no great stone walls like the great coliseum in Rome.  Instead, it was a large circular pit dug into the ground.  Seating took place around the arena on stone walls.  A great road led downhill into the arena.  I imagine that’s the path taken by the gladiators, peasants, horses, and of course, the lions.