Being a theme park and roller coaster fanatic, there was no way I could pass up a trip to Port Aventura, located just a 45 minute train ride down the coast from Barcelona, while I was in Spain. One of the most beautiful parks in Europe, Port Aventura is basically the Islands of Adventure of Europe, with roller coasters for thrillseekers, family rides for parents and children, and plenty of shows for everyone to enjoy. Plus, it has some stunning theming and gorgeous atmosphere.

It's been a while since I actually made the trip, so this will be more like a park guide than a trip report, except where I remember details.

Woody Woodpecker welcomes guests to beautiful Port Aventura.

The opening themed land is the Mediterranean. Clearly, it (and the rest of the park) was spruced up for Christmas.

Already, the lovely theming immerses people into a faraway land. Well, actually, since Port Aventura isn't really that far from the real Mediterranean, this case isn't that far.

In Polynesia, Tutuki Splashdown beckons riders with promises of complete drenchings and lots and lots of water.

There's also a little kiddie coaster called Tami Tami for thrillseekers in training.

Near the transition between Polynesia and China, there's Wuhan Harbor, a miniature mockup of a Chinese port. I guess the park designers figured they needed something here but couldn't really invest in an actual ride.

Ah, but then again, China does have Dragon Kahn, a 8-looping B&M roller coaster that is absolutely awesome.

Here, the train roars into a dive loop.

Here's one of my on-ride photos.

And another shot of this fantastic ride.

Next door lies the Mexico themed land, with its roller coaster, El Diablo, Tren de la Mina (basically The Devil's Mine Train). It's a runaway mine train coaster with three lift hills and a pretty fun layout. Nothing intense, but it's fun.

Here's two of the lift hills. At first, I thought it was a dueling roller coaster with opposite-facing lift hills. Port Aventura actually has a dueling/racing coaster, but that will be shown later.

Here's some of the theming for the ride. Very desert-ish.

You can also see Hurakan Condor, Port Aventura's amazing 330-foot Intamin freefall drop ride.

Here's a clearler shot of the Condor.

The ride hits speeds of 72 MPH during its descent. Airtime!!

I like that they take your photo at the top of the tower, just before you drop. Presumingly to capture the terror of anticipation.

Later on, though, after I got off another ride, I noticed Hurakan Condor was broken. Very broken. I'm pretty sure this is a major no-no, because as far as I know, drop rides should never have their cables snap.

Here's Stampida, the dueling/racing wooden roller coaster I referred to earlier.

It's a very fun ride enhanced by the spirit of competition between the two trains. I would have liked to manage more than the one ride I was able to get.

The rest of the Old West area looks eerily similar to Knott's Berry Farm's Ghost Town.

Seriously... are we in the Tarragona region of Spain or Buena Park, California?

Tomahawk is a children's wooden coaster tucked into the layout of Stampida. That makes three wooden layouts wound within each other.  Very cool!

The park has a rapids ride themed to the Grand Canyon.  It doesn't really get riders wet compared to other rapids rides I've been on, but it's still pretty fun.

The theming is excellent. Is this Spain or Arizona?

Here's a quick shot of construction on Furious Baco, Port Aventura's newest roller coaster, opening spring 2007. It's an Intamin hydraulically launched rocket coaster with new trains that have seats on the sides of the track, rather than on top.

One of my last rides of the evening was Sea Odyssey, a huge motion simulator where riders join submarines on a rescue mission at the bottom of the ocean. But then we run into a gigantic sea creature, and the rescue mission turns into an escape mission! The ride was definitely cheesy (there's a talking dolphin that might be related to Alvin the Chipmunk), but quite enjoyable.

Here's an evening shot of a theater in the China section.

This dusk shot of El Diablo is fantastic. I love the colors of the sky in the background!

And we bid goodbye to Port Aventura. It's a really great park, and there's actually a lot of things to do! Easily a park that can take a few days to fully explore, especially if you want to catch all the shows offered.