Tarraco is messy proposal with a lot of parts to it, just like the equally hispano roman city of Merida. Over the course of two days I visited the amphitheatre, the circus, the aqueduct and the mausoleum (?) of centcelles. I also visited other properties like the forum and theatre, but their conservation state is pretty terrible.

The most famous element of the site is whithout a doubt the amphitheatre. it's pretty and very photogenic, but it pales in comparison with other city enclosed amphitheatres like arles, verona or pula. This is not all too surprising, afterall Tarraco is inscribed because of its ensemble, but I think the fact that the crown jewel is not overly impressive speaks volumes about the general quality of the site. 

The part I enjoyed the most was, as I expected, the roman villa of centcelles (photo). The ticket to fame of this otherwise plain building is its dome partially decorated with mosaics. Not much is known about its history, which has led to much confussion over what to even call it. The whole complex seems to have grown out of a villa, but its evolution across time is a mystery. Some say the domed hall was a basilica, some say it was a mausoleum. The truth is that we don't have any idea why such a luxurious construction (the dome is 10m tall and 10.6m in diameter) was built in the middle of nowhere. However the preservation of a dome mosaic from the fourth century is pretty extraordinary. I went there walking from the pont del diable and it took about an hour or so. The visit doesn't take much time and it's dirt cheap. There's also a bus from the nearby town of constanti to Tarragona's bus station.

The Aqueduct of las ferreras or pont del diable was another highlight. It's conservation is very good and it lies on a nice forest. It's far less impressive than say the aqueduct of segovia, but you can actually walk on it which is a plus. You can get there taking a bus from tarragona's bus station.

The circus lies very close to the amphitheatre and, despite it's largely ruined state, makes for a prety nice visit. I would say the best in tarragona. the highlight is the concrete tunnels which back in the day would've made the outer perimeter of the circus and the reused tower of the prelado. Overall a nice experience, especially considering that less than a quarter of the circus has survived.

And this leads us to the conclusion. I'm not sure there's quite enough in tarragona to be a WHS. Merida imo has more quantity and in general better quality. Tarraco's main OUV according to UNESCO comes from its urbanism. The city was built ondifferent terraces with the highest one reserved for administrative and religious buidlings. an interesting segmentation indeed. Unfortunately, none of those administrative buildings survive so unless you see a model of the old city you're not gonna get a feeling of how tarraco was organised. Another shot at glory is its age. Tarraco was one of the very first roman colonies outside of Italy and it was deeply connected with the famous scipio family. However, most of the highlights of tarraco (like the circus and amphithetre) date from much later. Only the roman walls date from the very first days of the colony. 

All in all I don't think there's enough left of Tarraco to actually merit an inscription in a list overflowing with roman ruins. That said It's also far from the worst offender (looking at you roman limes...). I don't know, its worth a visit. Btw the cathedral is actually pretty nice plus you can see a patch of the imperial temple walls (though its a bit expensive if I recall correctly).