April 28, Cartagena, Spain

Located on the Southern Murcian Coast, Cartagena is home to 3,000 years of history. Much of it is reflected in buildings around the city, including the second-largest Roman theater on the Iberian Peninsula. A number of remarkable remains from Moorish and Phoenician days mingle with beautiful Art Nouveau buildings here. An important defensive port in the western Mediterranean, Cartagena has been the headquarters of the Spanish Navy’s Maritime Department of the Mediterranean since the 18th century. Scenic lighthouses dot the coast, steering ships away from the shore since 1865. One of its most spectacular sights is the inland sea, the Mar Menor, formed when an accumulation of sediment created a barrier between the land and the Mediterranean.

We did not take a tour today, as we have been here before, and we decided to walk around the town and see the parts we did not see before. As you walk off the ship and go into town, the walkway is beautiful. You also walk along the walled part of the city.

Then you enter the town and all the pedestrian streets are paved with tile, as are some of the vehicle streets. The buildings are the old mixed with the new.

We stopped at the Lady of Mount Carmel Parish Church. They were setting up for a wedding.

I found the old doors to be very interesting. They were between two more modern places of business and took you upstairs to these apartments we can only see from the outside. 

We walked through many plazas with their statues.

Cartagena has two significant ruins within the city. The first one we saw was the ruins of the forum. It is still being excavated, but is very interesting. We did not see this the last time we were here.

The other significant ruin was of the Roman Theater, which did see the last time, but wanted to go back.

And that was our morning.

Docked across from us was the largest sailing vessel in the world. It belongs to a Russian billionaire. The center mast is 300 feet high and has a room in it. It has eight decks, including a helicopter pad. I think it holds 20 with 54 crew. The hull is steel and the deck is teak. Someone said it was in here for maintenance.

We leave at 3:30 today and set sail for Granada, Spain, where we have been to also. But we are going to do something different, we are going to some caves. And then a sea day, one more ports, two sea days (packing) and then London and home.