El Serrallo Neighbourhood & Tarragona Port

About El Serrallo Neighbourhood & Tarragona Port

El Serrallo is the fishing neighborhood in the maritime port of Tarragona and was founded in the middle of the 19th Century when the Mediterranean corridor railway between Tarragona, Reus, Montblanc and Lleida cut through the land displacing dock workers and fishermen into the patch of land now called El Serrallo.

Originally, the new setlment consisted of wooden huts on wheels until 1803 when a board was formed to plan the layout of the maritime area. In 1806, the planning of the neighborhood was documented by the engineer Antoni López Sopella with the funal constructions being authorised in 1868. In combination with land reclamation and the construction of the modern port, El Serallo,s narrow streets and fishermans houses were constructed.

Sant Pere church was constructed in 1880 with the main promoter of the neighborhood being Espinach Anicet, financial and banker of Barcelona origin. The fishermen's boats, despite the construction of the small town, continued to be parked on the beach at the end of the coast pier, next to the church of Sant Pere. To counter tidal flooding a wharf was constructed in 1942 and the market building and school date from 1946.

The neighborhood began to depopulate between 1965 and 1970, when the Social Institute of the Navy built housing for fishermen outside of El Serallo with better houses. The neighbourhood was saved from complete abandonment by a neighbourhood movement called Salve El Serrallo in the mid-1980s that sought finatial assistance from the port of Tarragona authority and Tarragona city hall.

In 1986 a set of measures were implemented to stop the degradation of the neighborhood. Following years of cultural revival, especially from the parish church and preservation of traditional fiestas such as the Fiesta de Sant Pere del Carme, today El Serrallo is an emblematic Tarragona neighborhood, famous for its seafood restaurant that serve locally caught produce from the small fleet of fishing vessels that work out of Tarragona Port. You can see them morred in fromt of Sant Pere church.

Sant Pere is the patron saint of fisherman.

Image Gallery for El Serrallo Neighbourhood & Tarragona Port

Click on any of the 23 images to open full screen gallery player

Visiting El Serrallo Neighbourhood & Tarragona Port

El Serrallo is one of my recommended neighbourhoods in Tarragona to get lunch or dinner. You can find a list of my recomended restaurants in the Where to eat in Tarragona page.

Also within this area you will find the Tarragona Port Museum and National Archaeological Museum of Tarragona (MNAT) in the tinglado 4 building.

When walking aroundthe port you will see many luxury yachts and historic port cranes as well as an old locamotive steam train plus an interesting murial on the wall of a house.

What to take with you for El Serrallo Neighbourhood & Tarragona Port

For the Tarragona day trip I pack a small 10L rucksack with a fleece jersey and if the weather forecast says rain, a waterproof poncho. Wear comfortable shoes so that your ankles are not destroyed on the cobble streets.