Cartagena, Spain

Our tour in Cartagena was much more enjoyable as we had a guide we could understand. We did a lot of walking and stair climbing!

Our first stop was the Castillo de la Concepcion. We climbed many steps to get up there. This castle was built by the Moors sometime between the 12th and 13th centuries. Here's an aerial view I found on the web. 

 

Model of castle 

It was hard to get any exterior pictures because of the trees.

Remains of lighthouse 

There were many peacocks on the castle grounds, and they were noisy!

 

There is currently a Leonardo de Vinci exhibit in the castle. I knew he was a painter and inventor, but I didn't realize the extent of his work! Here are a few examples. The paintings are reproductive prints.

Lived 1452 to 1519

There were many different flying inventions

This is a suspension bridge

Multi shooter canon, predecessor to machine gun

diving suit

The famous Mona Lisa was completed when he was 50, although he kept tweaking it until his death. The model was Lisa Gherardini. Mona means lady in ancient Italian. We saw the original in Paris in 2007. I really don't see why it is so famous! 😕 

The views from the top were vast. Here's our ship with some navy vessals in the back. Cartagena has the main Spanish base in the Mediterranean Sea.  It was established in the 18th century as the harbor here is considered to be the best natural harbor. 

We saw this submarine while we were having lunch back on board 

Views of the old city and surrounding areas. Cartagena is 2,200 years old with a population of over 220,000.

We saw this abandoned bull fighting ring. People lost interest, and it closed. It is currently being excavated because its was built on top of a Roman theater.

Our next stop was the Punic Wall built around the city in the 3rd century BC. Ruins were discovered during a building project and have been excavated. A museum has been built over the top. 

The outdoor entrance to the museum replicates the size of the two sections of the original wall. It was 33 feet tall with three levels. The first two levels were store rooms, stables and soldier's living quarters. The third level was a patrol walkway. The Romans were able to breach the wall.

Upon further excavation, a burial room with many bones was discovered. It was determined this had been under a church from the 16th century. 

Our final stop was Old Town. This area saw a surge of development in the late 1800s during an Art Nouveau period. Wealth was coming from the mining industry. 

The entrance from the port has a beautiful plaza overlooking the main road which is pedestrian only. The building on the left is city hall.

There is a beautiful building which used to be the Grand Hotel. In the late 1930s Spain experienced a civil war. At that time, all these luxury buildings were occupied by the elite. They lost their fortunes after the war, and banks took over most of them. Today they are shops, restaurants, bars and, of course, banks!

The main street also had an old catholic church called Iglesia Santo Domingo in existence since the 18th century. 

We stopped at a bar so Kevin could try a Spanish beer. He had this one which was a lager. He said it was okay.

Once again, there were beautiful flowers all over. I loved this purple bougainvillea!

When we returned to our room, we found certificates celebrating our Atlantic Ocean crossing. We got similar ones when we traversed the Panama Canal. 

Tomorrow we explore the Spanish island of Palma De Mallorca.