Cartagena has been a fabulous place to stay for the winter season.  We didn’t know what to expect for our first winter but it has exceeded our expectations.  We’ve had a lot of fun, met some amazing people, some of whom I know we will meet again either on our travels over the summer or in Sicily for the winter.  The community here has been great with lots of social activity, regular Sunday BBQ, Tapas nights, sun downer drink nights, darts (yeah I know but a real laugh) trips out, dinners, lunches, sports sessions (watching the Six Nations, well what did you expect?) and yoga!

Of all the things we’ve seen and visited during our time in Cartagena the two things I would recommend is the Carnival and Holy Week (more info in earlier blogs).  Both celebrations are a must see.  They are both amazing in different ways.  The amount of time and effort that has gone into these events is incredible.

The city is steeped in over 2,500 years of history so there was plenty to see and do.

There are various Roman remains around the city however the Roman Theatre was only discovered more recently in 1988.  Houses and part of the Old Cathedral sat on top of the Theatre.

There is also a Bullring which was built on the ruins of a Roman Amphitheatre.

Cartagena is one of Spain’s main naval bases, so of course there would be a Naval Museum which Ian insisted we visit.

The Underwater Archaeology National Museum.

Castillo de la Concepcion has great views of the city and harbour and also has its own peacocks.

There are various monuments and churches too and the sight out of the back of the boat of the cruise ships, who arrived up until mid November and after mid March on a regular basis.  Sailing Yacht A also spent the winter here which is a bit like Marmite you either love it or hate it.  It’s enormous, there is a three storey building to the side of it.

 

Views of Cartagena

We had a good crowd of people come along to see us, Jessica, John and Irene, Julia and James, Lorna and Dave, Mel and Lee, John and Primrose, Brian and Ann and Stick and Lisa.  I didn’t get mug shots of everyone unfortunately.

Put all this together and it’s been AMAZING.  But all good things come to an end and we said our goodbyes to our immediate neighbours Caroline, Howard, Jessica and Olivia.  Although we were told by our young neighbour Jessica its not goodbye it’s “See you Later”.  We let the lines go and off we went.  Feeling a little sad but excited too for the next season of our adventure.

We passed the Spanish Navy coming into port as we were leaving and as is the norm the band was playing, maybe not for us but we can pretend as it was nice to be played out to!

April 2018