Logbook · 7 places

What to see and do in Ascó

What to see and do in Ascó (Ribera d'Ebre, Tarragona): 7 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

When to go to Ascó: festival calendar

August: Ascó Main Festival (August 20-24)

How far each place is from the centre of Ascó

Towns near Ascó

What to see in Vinebre 1.9 km · 7 places
What to see in la Torre de l'Espanyol 5.1 km · 4 places
What to see in Flix 5.8 km · 10 places
What to see in la Fatarella 8.1 km · 5 places
What to see in Garcia 8.5 km · 6 places
What to see in Riba-roja d'Ebre 10 km · 7 places
What to see in Móra la Nova 11 km · 5 places
What to see in Móra d'Ebre 12 km · 7 places

Spain › Catalonia › Tarragona › Ribera d'Ebre › Ascó

What to see and do in Ascó

Ascó
Village
Ascó is a town in the comarca of the Ribera d'Ebre, in the province of Tarragona, situated on the right bank of the river Ebro, with its ruined medieval castle and walls on the hill overlooking the town. It has 1,589 inhabitants, whose economy revolves around traditional dry farming and, above all, the two-reactor nuclear power plant installed next to the river, which uses its waters for cooling. Besides the castle, it preserves the parish church and its riverside surroundings, and maintains a twinning with the French town of Marines.
Walls of Ascó
Monument
The walls of Ascó, declared a cultural asset of national interest, surrounded the medieval town situated on the right bank of the river Ebro, in the comarca of the Ribera d'Ebre (Tarragona). Several stretches survive, some hidden among houses built later, the best preserved being that of Carrer de la Mola and Plaça Nova, with a wall of small ashlar blocks laid in regular courses. In 1594 a document by Fra Jaume de Montcada already distinguished the Vila de Dins and the Vila de Fora, Moriscos and Christians, within the enclosure. Ascó also preserves the ruins of a medieval castle on the hill overlooking the town.
Castle of Ascó
Monument
A castle situated on top of a hill above Ascó, in the Ribera d'Ebre, on the right bank of the river, declared a cultural asset of national interest. It was the seat of a Templar commandery and had a strategic position to control the crossing over the Ebro, between Reus, Tortosa, Caspe and Lleida. Under Muslim occupation it was the residence of the wali of Siurana; documented in 1148, it passed to the Order of the Temple, which held it until its dissolution in 1312, when Jaume II handed it over to the Hospitaller order, present until the 19th century. It served as a fortress during the Reapers' War, in 1640, suffering serious destruction, and was dismantled after the War of the Spanish Succession and the Carlist Wars; in the third of these it still had a military role, with an optical telegraph tower. It has been publicly owned since 2013.
Tower of el Minaret
Monument
A truncated conical tower with a square floor plan in the old town of Ascó, also called Torre de Martinet or Torreta de la Vila, adjoined to the house known as Ca Estisora and declared a cultural asset of national interest. Its walls are made of irregular stone with squared ashlar corners, a single-pitch roof and a now walled-up arrow slit. It formed part of the old Portal de la Vila, which separated the Morisco community from the Old Christians until the two merged in 1595; the upper floor of Ca Estisora is known as the “minaret” because the Moriscos continued to gather there for their religious practices after the forced conversion of 1529.
Ascó Main Festival
Activity
Festa major of Ascó, dedicated to Sant Joan Baptista, Santa Rosa, and Sant Roc, celebrated in the last week of August with plaza dances, religious ceremonies, and popular swimming, athletics, and cycling competitions.
The 1938 crossing of the Ebro
Curiosity
On the night of 24 to 25 July 1938 the Republican army crossed the Ebro in boats at various points along the Ribera, Ascó among them, opening the Battle of the Ebro: the longest, the most heavily manned and one of the bloodiest of the war.
Ascó nuclear power plant
Historical milestone
The Ascó nuclear power plant is a second-generation plant located in the Ribera d'Ebre, between the towns of Ascó and Flix, on the right bank of the river Ebro. It consists of two pressurised water thermal reactors: the first entered commercial operation on 10 December 1984, with 1032.5 MW of power, and the second on 8 March 1986, with 1027.2 MW. The cooling system draws water from the Ebro by means of natural and forced-draught towers. In 2021 the Nuclear Safety Council decided to extend its operating life until 2029 for Ascó I and 2030 for Ascó II, exceeding the 40 years for which the reactors had been designed. Its construction transformed the economy and demography of a municipality that had until then been agricultural.