Saturday morning we arrived at our last stopover in the city of Cartagena (pronounced Car-ta-hey-na). It is on the southeastern Mediterranean coast of Spain, founded in 227 BC by the Carthaginians. It is reportedly from here that the famous general, Hannibal, marched his army with its elephants over the Alps to conquer Rome.
We learned on arrival that there was a marathon being run and streets were closed off, so there were no tourist buses including the HOHO buses. It was only about a 10 minute walk to town, so we hoofed it along with thousands of others from our and another ship that docked behind us (cabin curtains were closed this time) and joined the throngs who were also sightseeing or supporting the marathon.
Cartagena is an old city with a natural harbor. It is a great example of the constant presence of ruins beneath ruins beneath other ruins that is often found in Europe. Right in the city is a Roman Theatre that was built between 5 and 1 BC. Sometime in the 3rd century a market was built atop the ruins, and in the 13th century a cathedral was built on top of that. In 1988 during another building phase the Roman ruins were discovered and excavation began and continued until 2003. The arena seats over 6000 people, still holds performances, and there is a museum on the site that holds many of the artifacts uncovered during the excavations.
We chatted with some lovely British folks from the ship Britania (one of whom had actually been to the Rock of Gibralter several times), walked the streets of shops and cafes soaking up as much local culture as possible under the circumstances and perusing local grocery and Dollar General type stores.
After a couple of hours we headed back to the ship for an early departure at 3:30 p.m.
Saturday was our last day at sea and we were both feeling a little sad. It is always interesting to me how quickly we humans can adapt to new surroundings and settings, especially if they are comfortable. I have to admit we were probably “settled in” about minute three after boarding the ship two weeks earlier so we had definitely burrowed in. But there was plenty left to enjoy until we packed and put our suitcases out into the hallway to be picked up during the night and offloaded Monday morning when we arrived in Civitavecchia, Italy.
I’ll upload some pictures of the ship, and leave you with those as we end our transatlantic crossing with grateful hearts and begin our time in Italy.