GAIÀ ESTUARY PRESERVE & ROMAN VILLA OF ELS MUNTS

Today, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma have visited the Gaià River Estuary Wildlife Preserve and the Roman Villa of Els Munts in Altafulla.

Both are passionate about birds and history, so in the same day they have been able to visit the Roman past of the region and enjoy its protected natural spaces where life has flourished unmovably since times even older than the Romans.

Tomorrow morning, if the sea and wind cooperate (which according to the forecast they will), they will return to Port Ginesta. Claire will return to Barcelona and The Grandma will stay in the neighbouring town of Castelldefels where tomorrow afternoon she has a training session with future trainers.

The mouth of the Gaià river is located by Altafulla and has areas that are permanently flooded with fresh water and attract numerous bird species, especially migratory birds. Different educational activities related to the environment are organised here.

This is an area of small dimensions, which follows the Gaià river along its last stretch into the sea. It forms an island of natural landscape made up of riverside vegetation and marshland; a contrast to the dry farmland and touristic and recreational areas around it. Some parts of the area are permanently flooded with fresh water and are a refuge for different animal species, as well as a place of rest for numerous migratory birds.

The association Hort de la Sínia organises multiple environmental education activities. Hiking and beach activities are popular here.

This area is remarkable from an ornithological point of view thanks to the presence of species such as the Kentish plover, the little ringed plover, the little grebe and the kingfisher, to name just a few. Moreover, it also provides a place of rest for some species that stop to rest and/or feed during migration, such as the purple heron, the little bittern, the squacco heron, the European golden plover and the sand martin, among others. Among the mammals, it is worth mentioning the badger, and among the reptiles, we can find species like the pond turtle, the ocellated lizard and the Mediterranean tree frog.

More information: Birding Places

The villa of "Els Munts" is a residential Roman villa built during the 2nd century C.E. The villa is located 12 km away from Tarraco in the municipality of Altafulla in Catalonia. 

Scholars have regarded the villa of Els Munts as noteworthy for its mosaics and exceptional state of preservation. As a part of Tarraco, the villa of Els Munts is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The villa of Els Munts contains several components including a bath, gardens, and temple. In total the villa had a garden, semi-basement corridor with cistern for Caius Valerius Avitus, peristyle, water cistern known locally as La Tartana, a more extensive water reservoir, dining room (triclinium), the Mithraeum -a temple dedicated to the god Mithras, porticoed corridor. The baths had a reception with an atrium and alcover stone slab floor. There were heated rooms: caldaria, tepidaria, and furnaces with hypocaustum, and cold rooms (frigidaria). A furnace, praefurnia, heated the hot rooms from below. Lastly, there were latrines which excess water from the baths used to remove the excrement.

The ancient people known as the Iberians were early inhabitants of the region. The Roman historian Livy mentions Tarraco in describing part of the origins of the Second Punic War. The villa was initially built in the 1st century CE, on top of which the remains preserved today were built in the middle of the 2nd century CE. Sometime after 175 CE but before 200 CE, a fire burned at villa of Els Munts, and the inhabitants abandoned it.

The owner of the villa was Caius Valerius Avitus, a duumvir for the Roman province of Tarraco. A wall painting at the site indicates this information.

The villa of Els Munts is located in the municipality of Altafulla. Approximately 12 kilometers from Tarraco, modern day Tarragona and near the mouth of the Gayà River, the villa of Els Munts sits atop the western slope of a coastal hill which is part of Cap Roig, the origin of which is the Miocene era. It overlooks the Mediterranean Ocean and is near the Via Augusta.

The villa of Els Munts is part of a museum open to the public.

More information: MNAT

 When you arise in the morning, 
think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive 
-to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.

Marcus Aurelius