The Coll de Balaguer is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human a ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. It is located at the point where the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range reaches the sea, in L'Almadrava, within the

Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Baix Camp in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in the south-west of the ''comarca'', between the Serra de Llaberia range and the coast. The town of Vandellòs ...

municipality,

Baix Camp Baix Camp () is a comarca of Catalonia. It is one of the three comarques into which Camp de Tarragona was divided in the comarcal division of 1936. Baix Camp is located on the coast, between Tarragonès to the northeast and Baix Ebre to the sout ...

. Despite its scant altitude this pass has been an important communication line between the

Terres de l'Ebre Terres de l'Ebre (, literally in English 'The Ebre Lands') is one of the seven territories defined by the Regional Plan of Catalonia. It is located in the south-west of Catalonia, in the southern part of river Ebre, and will be formed by four coma ...

region and the

Camp de Tarragona Camp de Tarragona () is a natural and historical region of Catalonia, Spain. It includes a central plain, surrounded by the Serralada Prelitoral mountain chain on the west and in the north, with the Mediterranean sand beaches of the Costa Daur ...

since ancient times. Nowadays highways AP-7,

N-340 The N-340 is a major highway in Spain. It is over 1,000 km long starting south of Barcelona and running predominantly along the coast to Chiclana de la Frontera and the N-IV to Cádiz. In many places the road has now been by-passed by the ...

, as well as the RENFE Barcelona-Valencia railway line go through the Coll de Balaguer pass. There are the ruins of a 13th-century castle overlooking the pass from the time of the fight against the

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

. The

Vandellòs Nuclear Power Plant The Vandellòs Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant in Vandellòs located close to the Coll de Balaguer pass (Baix Camp comarca) in Catalonia, Spain. Unit one was a 508 MWe carbon dioxide gas cooled reactor modeled on the UNGG reactor ...

is located right south of Coll de Balaguer.

References

Belaguer {{Tarragona-geo-stub

See also

References