I have sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar more times than I can possibly remember in the last 20 years and when passing Bolonia about 20 kilometres north west of Tarifa I am  always almost six miles off the Spanish coast in order to avoid and pass to the south of some wrecks that are 5.5 nautical miles west of Tarifa.  Had I ever planned to go to north of the wrecks I might well have seen the Roman ruins.

However when looking for Roman Ruins in Andalucia on the internet a few weeks ago I came across a short article about the Roman ruins at Bolonia called Baelo Claudia. It did not take me long thanks to Google earth to find the ruins and to my enormous excitement there was a theatre, baths, a forum, a temple etc etc.

With a good weather forecast for the following weekend I booked a hotel half way between Bolonia and Tarifa and we did the five hour ride down there on Saturday morning.  You will see above and to the left a model of the town that is in the excellent museum next to the ruins. We arrived in the early afternoon and after a brief look at the museum walked round the town taking photographs of the forum, a statue of Emperor Trajan  98 to 117 AD, the temple of Isis, the theatre, several baths, a Roman road that runs through the town, the market, a basilica and the salting factory. All of which you can see in the slide show below and to the right. We came back again the next day and I took more photographs and had a much longer look round the museum.

Baelo Claudia was built in the second century BC. The north African port of Tangier was 18 nautical miles to the south and so very close to Baelo Claidia. Bolonia cove is protected from west and north west winds by Punta Camarinal and from northeast and east winds by the coast to Tarifa, it is therefore a well sheltered harbour. Baelo Claudia prospered and was awarded the title of 'Municipium' by Emperor Claudius (41 to 54 AD). It is thought that an earthquake and tsunami badly damaged the town in the 2nd century AD.

In addition to trade with Tangier, the Tuna fishing must have been a substantial source of income because Tuna pass through the Straights every year to spawn in the eastern Mediterranean and then months later to go back out into the Atlantic again.  The Romans caught Tuna with permanent nets just as the Spanish tuna fishermen do now. Close to the beach is a factory complex consisting of circular and square  pits (still in good condition) which were used for salting the tuna and for the production of garum (a fish paste popular throughout the Roman Empire).  The floors of the factory were made of fired clay tiles which were therefore water resistant and ideal for washing down. A pre-requisite for any Roman town is to have sufficient water, at Baelo Claudia this was achieved with three aqueducts the longest being 8 kilometres in length.  There are two photographs in the slide show of a small aqueduct just to the east of the town which carried water over a stream.

The existence Baelo Claudia had long been known from Roman documents, but for a long time it was not known exactly where it was, until discovered in 1914. Archaeological work began in 1917, until then the site was almost completely covered in sand that had blown from the beach and had gradually concealed the buildings since the area was abandoned by the Romans probably in the 6th century AD.

My thanks to the Government of Andalucia for all the information in their excellent guide book which I bought from the official shop next to the museum, without which I could not not have written this article.

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