Wherever you sit in the Roman theatre of Tarragona, you face the sea. The builders carved the seating into the slope of a hill that runs down to the shore, so that the audience looked past the stage toward open water, and the effect on a clear evening is of a stage set whose back wall is the Mediterranean. Only part of the structure survives, its curved terraces partly rebuilt and its stage area cluttered with the foundations of the later buildings that stood on it, and yet the shape of the whole is easy to read. It lies in the lower town, a few hundred metres from the harbour, and is one of the monuments of the Tàrraco ensemble listed by UNESCO in 2000.
The Romans built the theatre in the first years of the empire, when Tàrraco was a thriving capital, and it served for centuries as the setting for plays and festivals. When the empire declined, the building was abandoned and used as a quarry, and in late antiquity a Christian basilica was put up on the stage, with burials and a later medieval church on top. The accumulation of centuries gives the site a layered quality that archaeologists enjoy and which makes the visit more interesting than a plain ruin.
By motorbike, you come to Tarragona from the north through the wine and hazelnut country of the Camp, with the Prades mountains to the west and the Gaià river valley cutting through. The roads here are a mix of fast main routes and gentle back lanes, and the best riding is in the hills behind the city, where you can find twisty, empty roads that lead to Poblet and the Priorat. Spring and autumn are the most comfortable seasons, with light of a fine, clear quality.
The city has about a hundred and forty thousand people, so fuel and food are no problem. Park the bike in the lower town in one of the marked bays and walk. The Serrallo, the old fishermen's quarter by the port, is the place for a plate of fresh fish, and the evening paseo along the Rambla Nova ends at a balcony over the sea. If you visit in August, expect heat and crowds, and bring a hat and water to the theatre because shade is limited.