Suprising Tarragona

In one of my earlier blogs, I dedicated a good paragraph to criticizing the Hotel Zenit in Reus in http://expatsmadrid.blogspot.com/2010/11/being-guiri.html .

This blog will sort of equalize things up. I have just come back from Tarragona (Reus’s closes neighbour) and it was a great business trip. I was there to decide whether there is a need to open up an office and what the implications are, especially with heavy unionization and the language issues.

I wont bore you with the business aspects (I will write that in http://engineeringrecruitment.blogspot.com/ ), but the trip was really pleasant.

The AVE as always was on time, the food was fine in Club and it wasn’t expensive. The hire car was waiting for me, but the GPS was set for Dutch and I couldn’t get it working. Luckily I always travel with a GPS, unfortunately I couldn’t get mine to work either as all the road names have been changed, or were, in Catalan.

I was constantly lost, but that’s fine as Tarragona is quite small, though the 1 and a half hours it took me to find the AVE station for the return leg from the centre was stressful. NB to the Tarragona Council, some directional signs would help.

The people hough there were really nice. Unbelievably friendly. An example: I asked for directions to a barbers, and a shop owner walked me there, and after my cut came out of the shop to ask if it was OK!

I went to a Vermouth bar, where you paid 4 € for the glass and could drink as much as you wanted.

The hotel staff were incredibly helpful. The Husa chain is not my favourite. Many of the hotels are old, including the one in Tarragona which has shabby rooms with single beds, but my stay was great. I am going back there just because of the service.

NB to the hotel managers, give a Christmas cesta to your staff.

There is also a lot to see in Tarragona. the Roman ruins are being renovated and are superb.