The Roman Villa

Sunday morning we toured a classic example of a Roman Mediterranean farming establishment ... Els Ametllers dating from the Ist Century BC to the 6th Century AD was discovered in 1914.

The sea-facing villa was located on the eastern slopes of Can Magi hill overlooking the bay and was built on two levels.

The dwelling was on the upper level and the lower level housed the the functional buildings ... Grain houses, other rooms used to produce the agricultural products.

You can see evidence of the overall magnificence of the villa in the thermal baths, the mosaics and stuccos, the fountain and the pool with it's Carrara marble sculptures*.

* the marble sculptures are now kept in the Museum

It is one of the most important villas from the ancient Roman province of Tarraco.

The swimming pool in the garden ....

Tic Tac Toe or Checkers anyone? 

Ancient Tiles ... 

A view from the top of the Villa location ...

Whenever I wander through ruins like this it makes me imagine / think about what it is was like to live in years gone by.

Pandora's Influence

#AvaGardner#JamesMason#TossadeMar

In the Spring of 1950 Ava Gardner and James Mason arrived in Tossa de Mar to film ... The British drama "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman".

                     

                         Photo credit ... Kino International

A film about a woman unable to love and a man unable to die ... based on the legend of the Flying Dutchman.

In 1998 a bronze statue of Ava Gardner was erected on the hill (Vila Vella) overlooking the town's main beach.

Here is Señor Honey (my own old blue eyes) as close as he ever would get to the beautiful Ava.

   

           

   

                      There is also a scupture in the Museum.

                  

Research suggests that Ava Gardner stayed at the Hotel Diana with her then husband, Frank Sinatra during the filming of the movie.

At lunch the other day, chatting with the older waiter and then Señor Honey showing him some of his old black and white photographs of Tossa some 50 years ago ... the conversation evolved to Ms.Gardner and how Tossa went from a sleepy village to a tourist destination ... that it was her presence that put Tossa de Mar on the map.

He told us about Chagall's visit in the summer of 1934 and calling Tossa "paradis bleu"... "blue paradise" but it did not have same impact as the arrival of the beautiful starlet Ava Gardener.

There is evidence of Ms. Gardner's character "Pandora" throughout the town and I believe she was a true friend to the locals that lived here at the time.

     

  

    

Tossa de Mar, Then and Now

This post is written by "Señor Honey".    

While our visit to Tossa was not intended as a "history tour" I should mention that I was last here fifty plus years ago.......my first trip abroad, as I was living in England then.

We have attempted to recreate photos to match the locations when I took them back in 1962; while much remains the same, many changes have occurred from what was a quiet fishing village.

                       

The most obvious difference is the change to tourism from one where most inhabitants worked in the fishing industry.

It wasn't until I was looking closely at the old photos that I realized this one of a young German girl (don't even ask!) was taken with the Hotel Diana in the background.

That is were we stayed this trip and is famous for being the hotel that Ava Gardner and her husband Frank Sinatra stayed when the movie "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman was made in Tossa de Mar in 1950.

So now you can see the before and the after.........sometimes things change or stay the same..........and so life goes!