Tortosa and Xerta, Catalunya – April 19th, 2025
Nice leisurely drive to Tortosa along the Ebro Valley with a stop off at the weir on the Ebro river in Xerta on the way back.
Tortosa is the capital of the comarca of Baix Ebre and is protected on its northern side by the mountains of the Cardó Massif, of which Buinaca, one of the highest peaks, is located within Tortosa’s municipal boundary. In 1960, General Franco established the memorial (pictured) to the victims of his victorious nationalist forces, who had bombed the Catalan city in 1938.
The memorial was re-styled in 2016 to commemorate the fallen on both sides, despite being viewed for a long time as a symbol of oppression. The memorial was built on the remains of the one bridge that was completely destroyed — a reminder to many Catalan people of not only the violence but also the still-distant dream of Catalan national independence. Even so, the people of Tortosa voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to not scrap the memorial altogether but to make sure it told a more complete version of history.
Before Tortosa, across the river, rise the massive Ports de Tortosa-Beseit mountains. The area around Mont Caro and other high summits are often covered with snow in the winter.
The road to Miravet and the Knight’s Templar castle for lunch was chaos with Easter Saturday traffic so an about turn to Mora-La-Nova and the thunderstorm hit. Torrents of water cascading down the streets so stopped off for a Menu del Dia at La Dana with grilled shrimps and salted bacalla/cod as the dish of the day.
