OUR TRANSATLANTIC CRUISE – Day 5 - Cartagena

Okay, back to the cruise updates! Sorry for the delay, but things have been just a little crazy around here lately. Watch this space for an exciting announcement coming soon.

Our second Spanish port was Cartagena. For a little history of Cartagena click
HERE to read the post I wrote back in December, before we’d actually been there.


We knew we’d be able to walk right off the ship and into town, which was really nice. We knew the town itself would be smaller, and although cruise ships do stop here, it’s not over-developed.

As we disembarked we were handed samples of a local liqueur - what a great way to say welcome! We headed to the top first – to la Concepió Castle. We walked up the winding street and were rewarded with some great views – of our ship in the harbor, and of an old bull-fighting ring, which I later learned was built on top of a Roman gladiatorial arena. At the castle we watched a short film which told us about the history of Cartagena, which dates from 227 BC.

From our vantage point we could also see a Roman amphitheater, just one of the many reminders that this region was once part or the Roman empire. Later as we walked through town we visited the House of Fortune, which houses the ruins of the home of ‘ordinary’ Romans from the 1st century BC. We also visited the Punic Interpretive Center to see the remains of the wall built by the founder of Cartagena, Hasdrubal, in 227 BC. Also located at the Interpretive Center are the remains of the Hermitage of San Jose, or at least the burial vault of the Hermitage.

I don’t know why no one told us about a wonderful sheep’s milk cheese to try in Spain called Manchego. I would have loved to compare it to the pecorino cheeses we have here in Italy, but I didn’t know about this cheese until we were back in the states! Even worse, no one – NO ONE! told me about the famous thick hot chocolate and churros!!! When friends described this decadent treat to me I was soooo sorry we didn’t know about it when we were in Cartagena – it would have been the perfect place to try it! We did see quite a few delicious treats in the bakery windows, but resisted temptation, knowing that our six straight days at sea were rapidly approaching, and that eating would be one of the main past-times!

Rather than just showing a few photos, here's a slideshow of our day in Cartagena. Remember you can click the icon in the bottom right hand corner to make the photos full screen size!





There are more photos from the cruise and all the ports we visited on our FLICKR PAGE.