Ullastret Tourist Attractions

The settlement is one of the largest of its kind in northeastern Spain. The Puig de Sant Andreu and the Illa d'en Reixac, linked by a narrow isthmus of land, were already occupied by man in the Palaeolithic era, and here, probably from the seventh century B.C. onwards, a fortified settlement grew up. By the sixth Century B.C. the Iberians, the original inhabitants of this region, had already developed active trading relations with the Phoenicians, the Etruscans and the Greeks. It was as a result of Greek influence that the Iberians began to build in stone and to use the potter's wheel. By the turn of the fifth century B.C. the Iberian town, now surrounded by a stout stone wall, was at the peak of its development and its prosperity. In the third Century, however, strong competition from the nearby Greek foundation of Emporion brought about its decline, and in the second century B.C. the town was abandoned. It remained forgotten until the thirties of this Century; then after its rediscovery systematic excavations began in 1947 and are still going on.

A short distance from the entrance to the site are the walls on the west side of the town, with six large round towers set at fairly regular intervals of 30m/100ft. In this area too there are six gates through the walls.The best place to start the tour of the site is Gate 1. From here a broad street (Street 1) leads to the upper town or acropolis, on the highest point of which is the Museum. Excavation has made most progress in this area, just inside the town walls. Here and there are large shafts driven vertically into the ground which no doubt served as store-rooms and cisterns.To the left of Street 1 is a residential district (Predis subirana), also with the foundations of buildings and a cistern. In the upper town the remains of two temples have also been excavated. The area farther north is not yet open to the public.

The Museum, on the highest point of the acropolis, displays agricultural implements, weapons, etc., of the Iberian period, a number of human skulls (some from victims of execution, some showing evidence of trepanation), fossil fauna, spinning whorls and loom weights, moulds for bronze fibulas and painted pottery (mostly imported Greek ware from Attica). In the main hall is a model of the site, and on the walls are large sketch maps showing the places of origin of the coins and pottery displayed and an archeological map of Gerona province.

8km/5mi southwest of Ullastret, on C 255, is the little town of La Bisbal (alt. 39m/128ft), a center of pottery manufacture, with a wide range of products from simple and attractive ware to the merest kitsch. In the town can be seen a Romanesque castle, once the residence of the bishops of La Bisbal.

In the Camp Triangular ("Triangular Field") objects of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. - the town's heyday - were recovered.