Our journey down the Mediterranean coast of Spain continued today with a visit to Cartagena, a city of 219,000, and a major base for the Spanish navy. Cartagena is also becoming a major cruise destination because of its 300 annual days of sunshine and its plethora of historic ruins, many of which we saw on our morning walking tour of the city.
The Mediterranean heat wave continues in full force, so I was pleased that we were off the ship by 9:00 am, and I was also pleased that there was a strong breeze off the water and plenty of shade, which made our walking tour of the city much more enjoyable. Best of all, the things we wanted to see were within walking distance of the ship, allowing us to stay in the city and poke around after the tour without having to figure out how we’d get back afterwards.
I know I’m going to sound like a broken record, but I really liked Cartagena. It’s a nice, modern city with a charming, walkable old town, and enough old ruins to keep a history buff busy for years. A lot of that history is violent though, because Cartagena has one of the finest natural harbors in the Mediterranean, which of course has made it worth fighting for since the time of the Carthaginians and Romans.
It was the Carthaginians (Carthage was near Tunis in northern Tunisia) who first settled here in force, after the Romans had chased them out of places like Sicily. They quickly grasped the value of the harbor and in short order built a strong wall around their growing settlement. Today the remains of that wall are called the Punic Wall, because Cartagena and its wall were the site of a great battle between Carthage and Rome in the Punic Wars. Spoiler: Rome won.
One of the first stops on our tour was at the Punic Wall Museum, where we watched a historical video and saw portions of the wall. After the war Rome rebuilt the wall and continued to develop Cartagena, constructing great works that are still being uncovered and preserved today. It was those later Roman works that were the highlights of our tour.
From the Museum roof we were able to see the walls of the Roman amphitheater, which was the site of gladiator battles against other gladiators or wild animals, and was later used for bullfights. Currently there isn’t much to see there except the circular walls, so we didn’t go over to examine it. We did get a peek at the Roman thermal baths and the restoration work at the Roman forum, but the big attraction, and for good reason, was the Roman theater.
Remarkably, the theater wasn’t even discovered until 1988 despite its downtown location and size. Happily, the initiation of a development project at the site uncovered what turned out to be the largest Roman theater in Spain, and today it is almost fully open to the public. We spent quite a bit of time wandering around, climbing the steep steps, and taking lots of photos.
The rest of the tour took us through the city’s adjacent old town, which was similar to others we’ve visited. Beautiful, classically designed administrative buildings, charming pedestrian streets, open air cafes, interesting statues and monuments, lots of nice shops, and a pretty harbor make Cartagena’s downtown very appealing. Throw in the nice sea breeze, which really helps take the bite off the summer heat, and you’ve got a winner.
Before I finish I thought I’d share a joke we’ve heard in more than one European country.
Q. What do you call someone who speaks three languages.
A. Trilingual.
Q. What do you call someone who speaks two languages?
A. Bilingual.
Q. What do you call someone who speaks one language?
A. American.
Alas, I plead guilty. I took an online Duolingo French course a few years ago, and traveling as we have has made me want to pick it back up.
Tomorrow we’re in Grenada, our last Mediterranean port, where I hope to learn whether to pronounce the city Gre-NAY-da, or Gre-NAH-da. Actually, I hope to learn a lot more than that, and I’ll be back to tell you all about it, so stay tuned.
This pretty church was near the start of our walking tour. Today’s tour was the first in a while that didn’t feature a major church or cathedral. I’m sure there’s one in Cartagena, but our tour didn’t include it.
It did include the city hall, which just kept getting more impressive the closer we got.
And the prior photo wasn’t even of the front of the building. This is the front of City Hall.
And talk about a grand entrance. Inside City Hall’s foyer, looking up the grand staircase.
Look up from there and you’ll see the city’s coat of arms. I loved it.
From the roof of the Punic Wall Museum there is a great view of the…Punic Wall.
Inside the museum there are preserved portions of the ramparts detailed explanations in Spanish and English.
Another beautiful building, the Palacio de Aguirre.
This wonderful tile history on the side of a building lists important events that occurred in Cartagena.
This is the main pedestrian street in Cartagena. I loved the elegant, classically designed buildings.
They’ll tell you this is the big local drink. The truth is that it’s the big local drink they market to tourists.
Time to show you the Roman theater, which wasn’t discovered until 1988. It’s the largest Roman theater in Spain.
Closeup of the top.
Well, hi down there, Michele. 😀
I thought the theater was great.
My obligatory shot of a European door. I think they’re great too.
Walking the pedestrian street. That’s a well known hotel in the background.
Street performer. Harpist, very classy.
Statue on one of the squares.
The tree behind is a ficus, imported from Australia.
Michele and I went back to the Roman theater on our own after the tour and found our way down into the portico. Note the intricate floor.
Murals. Earlier in the day there were three or four black cats under the purple one.
As we so often see, a fort on top of a hill overlooking the harbor.
Yeah, I know. Me too.
I hope he makes it back okay. He seems like a nice guy.
This sculpture is right along the waterfront.
And this one is actually in the water.
Almost back to the ship. That’s the flag of the city of Cartagena.
Home, sweet home. For another two months, anyway.
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