Cartagena, Spain

We arrived in Cartagena, Spain, on Saturday, April 28, at 8 in the morning.  Cartagena is the second largest city in the so-called autonomous region of Murcia located in the southeast of Spain.  Murcia has a population of 1 million and Cartagena a population of 150,000.  Cartagena was founded by the Cathaginians around 220 B.C.E. and was taken by the Romans in 146 B.C.E.  During the Roman period it boomed and many Roman ruins have been found in the city, some of which will be addressed below.  Today, in addition to being a significant naval base, Cartagena is increasingly a tourist destination, the draw being its cultural institutions and the excavation and restoration of Roman ruins, as well as it's beautiful city and pleasing climate.   

When we pulled back our curtains, here's what we saw as we had just entered the harbor and were approaching our docking position.

  

Cartagena has an industrial port that was once positioned immediately in front of the docking area, essentially separating the harbor from the city.  That part of the port has since been relocated substantially off to the side, and it now looks like this.

  

About 20 years ago a new cruise port and terminal facility were built where the industrial port had been.  As a consequence, when a cruise ship now docks its passengers enjoy unencumbered views of the historical city and a beautiful esplanade connecting the dock area to a colorful marina and the city itself.  (That's the Viking Sun in the background.)

      

Janis and I had signed up for an excursion titled "Cartagena Foundations Walking Tour," a 4-hour walking tour that left from and returned to the ship with no bus ride at all.  A first on this cruise and a pleasure to be on our feet for that length of time and not sitting on a coach.  Our guide for this tour, which involved a lot of Cartagena's archeological history, was an archeologist named Francisco Jose who, we later learned, discovered the existence of the remains of a Roman theater in the middle of the city.  We were in good hands.  And the weather was perfect:  just under 70 degrees.  Delightful after the hot, humid weather of Southeast Asia, India and Egypt.

What became immediately apparent as we started out was that there was a tasteful mix of the old and the new everywhere we looked.  This building, for example, reflects a contemporary addition on top of an original preserved structure, framed by a well designed street light.

                                              

The city is quite hilly.  Once we crossed over to the city side we climbed a circular stairway to an upper level, on which the building shown above sits, and continued on past an elevator that joins a lower elevation to an even higher one (we didn't take it) so that we could look at the restoration currently underway of an ancient gladiator and bullfighting arena.

      

Cartagena has always been a military town, principally navy given its location.  However, there is an airforce base nearby and this displayed retired jet symbolizes that.

Beautiful old fortification walls are visible all around as one walks.  And a nice long jogging track runs through the area.

               

Our next stop was an archeological museum built around a dig that uncovered Roman ruins, including a catacomb that displays a skull in its original position.  We were struck by how appealing the building materials used in the construction of this building are, including the stairway down to the catacomb.

                  
                                                       

After leaving this museum, we walked for several blocks past sculpture pieces, interesting lamp posts and a compatible mix of restored or well maintained distinguished old and new buildings.

                         
                                                     

The only really dilapidated building we saw in this area is this one that our guide explained simply hasn't yet been rehabilitated but serves as an example of what many of the old buildings looked like before refurbishment.

Our next stop was a museum that housed an excavation of a Roman-era residence of the kind belonging to the wealthy class.  All of the various rooms are labeled and some are furnished as it's believed they would have been originally.

    

From here we walked some blocks along the upper part of the original fortification wall that separates the city from the sea, and then down to the lower street level that runs along the port and marina, again passing statues and old and new buildings.

                                             

We were now at the Naval Museum which houses what our guide described as the prototype submarine, invented and built by Spain.  According to him, after developing this design Spain decided not to put it into production and, instead, turned it and the design specs over to Germany who used it as the basis for its own development of submarine technology used against the Allies in WWII.

      

We next headed to City Hall square.  On the way, we passed these interesting buildings.  According to our guide, the one shown in the first frame below won the Pritzker Prize for its architectural design.

 

    

City Hall itself is a magnificent building.  Here are side and frontal views.  It's also the subject of the cover photo.

                                                                         

Our purpose in coming to this spot was to access the archeological remains of the Roman theater mentioned earlier.  The remains themselves are about two blocks away from City Hall square and at a different elevation.  But because the powers that be wanted the entrance of the Roman theater excavation museum to be right on this public square, a very creative architectural design was developed to accomplish this.  First, the visitor enters the museum and an interior gallery that houses relics from the theater dig.  From there, an escalator takes the visitor up two levels to another gallery.

                                

The upper gallery contains additional relics, including original lintels that were part of the theater.  The lower of the two was unearthed by our guide during the dig.

                  

The visitor then walks through a tunnel that runs under a street.  It takes a turn, then continues to a point where one sees excavated original flooring.

                                                                         

And, finally, one walks onto an upper level of the excavated Roman theater itself which remained undiscovered for over 2,000 years and over which, for much of that time, had stood a market place that, according to our guide, had become old and run down.  As part of this project, all of the shops that were there were relocated elsewhere in the city.  The care with which this whole project was planned and executed is remarkable.

                                                                                    

Speaking of a couple of excavated old relics . . . .                                                                                                             
                         

Once we emerged from the far side of the theater, we walked down an alleyway and emerged onto the far end of the City Hall square.  Note the chairs.  They were lined up in front of a performance stage at the main entrance of City Hall.

  

At this point, the organized tour was over, except for the walk back to the ship.  Janis decided to stay in the Old Town's shopping and restaurant area, and I chose to return to the ship with our tour group.  At the beginning of our walk along the marina promenade, I saw this boat in the water which our guide explained is the super sail-assisted motor yacht named "A" designed by Philippe Starck for Russian oligarch Andrey Melnichenko.  It is 468 feet long and has a mast height of 328 feet.  It was constructed at a cost in excess of $315M and was launched in 2015.

Like everything else in this incredibly appealing city, the marina promenade is beautifully laid out and features wide strolling areas and attractive restaurants and cafes.

  

We loved our visit to Cartagena.  Another one of those places we can see ourselves coming back to.  Our next port:  Malaga, Spain.