Tortosa

Tortosa has been inhabited and fought over for a very long time. The hill now occupied by the castle was likely the core of the ancient Iberian city of Hibera, capital of the territory of Ilercavonia. Under Rome it became Dertosa, and in 714 Muslim forces took the city.

During the Umayyad period it was the main Islamic settlement on the lower Ebro, an important river port connected to the Levant by the Via Augusta. By 1035 it had become a taifa kingdom. In 1148 Count Ramon Berenguer IV retook the city, opening a Christian medieval period that was itself followed by a Renaissance flourishing — commemorated since 1996 in an annual historical re-enactment festival.

The city was also the site of the Disputation of Tortosa in 1413–1414, the most significant Christian-Jewish religious debate in medieval Spain. Later centuries brought the War of Succession (Felipe V's troops took the city in July 1708), French occupation from January 1811 to May 1814, and Carlist conflict. The Spanish Civil War left the city heavily damaged by Francoist bombing between 1937 and 1939, and reconstruction was slow.

The old city holds three national monuments within a substantial historic quarter, though parts of the old town remain in a long-term process of restoration and some areas are visibly degraded. The centrepiece is the Castillo de la Zuda, sitting 59 metres above sea level and commanding views over the city and the Ebro. Romans built the first fortified structures here; the Moors under Caliph Abd al-Rahman III shaped the castle into its defining form, including the large deep well — the "zuda" — around which underground galleries survive, along with remains of a mill and two ovens.

After the Reconquest it served as residence for the Montcada family and the Templars, then from 1294 as a royal palace of the Crown of Aragon. Three large Gothic chimneys and four Gothic windows from that royal period survive in what is now a Parador hotel. The entrance to the castle includes a Muslim cemetery, from which a 1972 excavation recovered an epitaph referencing a governor.

The Arab baths, rediscovered in 2005 in the San Jaime neighbourhood, are now open to visitors. In 2015 the cathedral was opened towards the Ebro. Tortosa also serves as a base for the wider Ebro Lands region, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2013.

Three airports serve Tortosa: Reus is the closest, Barcelona El Prat is further but has the best international connections and public transport links to the city, and Valencia airport is approximately 170 km away by road. By road, the main access is via Exit 40 (Tortosa-l'Aldea) on the national road, or the Eix de l'Ebre between Tortosa and Lleida. As of April 2026, Tortosa and its approach roads have 5G coverage from all Spanish carriers.

Local dishes to look for include Bunyols Abadejo (a potato and salt cod paste fried in small balls), Menjar Blanc (a pudding of milk, rice, and cinnamon), and Baldanes (rice sausage).