August 15th : Cartagena, Spain
Today we landed in the Spanish port of Cartagena, on the coast of the Mediterranean sea. This is our second last port visit on this cruise, our last being tomorrow (Barcelona) as the day after that is at sea.
As we had no tours booked, we went ashore and did our own exploration.
Last night we saw Doug Cameron perform some dazzling violin work as part of the Celebrity Variety performance in the Equinox Theatre.
Our dinner at ‘Blu’ was excellent and we were also able to print our RyanAir e-tickets which was bothering us. Check back for more on Cartagena (new Carthage)!
Cartagena was a bit disappointing, to be honest. Today was essentially a public holiday (a Catholic holiday if I am not mistaken), so many shops were closed. The town was interesting, but hard to get a real feeling for its history.
Essentially, the Roman theatre, town hall and the Castle (“La Concepcion”) are all which remain from earlier times. Many of the buildings have undergone (or are in the process of) major refits.
When we first went ashore we tried to ascertain how to reach the Roman theatre, which eventually led us to the castle. We saw many peacocks on the way up the hill from the theatre.
There were great views, but not much to really speak of in detail. There was a REAL lack of signage!
Once we figured out how to climb down the hill, we walked through the neighbourhoods, but everything was closed.
At the main roundabout (“Plaza de Espana”), everything was in disarray, and we began to be a bit disheartened.
The architecture was very nice, but a lack of real attractions led us back to the dock.
On our way back we finally visited the Roman Theatre, complete with a sour guard, who was responsible for Yelling at people who wandered on/ into no go zones (even though areas were not roped off or signposted). Big fail for courtesy.
Once back aboard (at 2pm) we went up to the pool and swam for a while before chilling, pool side.
Later we went to deck 5 and enjoyed crepes from "Bistro on 5" before returning to the cabin.
Tonight is formal night and I have bought something special to wear.
The tablet PC hard drive is giving as grief (!), so /am busy backing our photos up onto USB keys.