4/25/22 Cartagena

Please note that the blog software is uploading photos out of sequence and disappears them when I try to move them in place, so the travelog may seem disjointed.

No, we didn't miraculously go to Columbia. The original Cartagena is in Spain and was initially settled by the Carthegenians. It is a primary Spanish Naval Base and has several hills overlooking the harbor with forts on top. There were also three submarines in residence, only 2 of which I could find: One in dry dock and another very modern one.

A modern sub in black in the water

A older sub in dry dock, also black

One of several forts on the hills that surround Cartagena's
harbor.

This is sort of an undiscovered gem in Spain with a lot of ruins. They have a problem similar to Rome: a lot of time when they dig foundations for replacement buildings, they discover ruins that they then preserve. (Rome has a terrible time trying to extend its subway system for the same reason.)

It is a lovely, walkable place and our guide happened to also be an architect and did a fine job of explaining things.We were supposed to have arrived yesterday, Sunday, but got delayed because of the change of itinerary necessitated by Covid. In Cartagena, Monday is the day that the museums close because most visitors are long gone by Monday. Fortunately for us, both the ruins we saw opened briefly for us to get a tour so we didn't have to compete with other visitors beyond the rest of the people on our ship.

The downtown area is right along the harbor.

City hall

We started the day with an Asiatic Coffee, which is a cousin of Irish Coffee. It has a layer of condensed milk, coffee, cognac, and bit of Licor 43 (a combination of 43 ingredients). It was originally developed by fisherman, at least some of whom originated in the far east, like the Philippines, hence the name.  I enjoyed it, but Jim, the non-coffee person, had a coke.

Approaching the first ruin

Our first glimpse of the theater

Because of the age of Cartagena and the desire to
preserve worthwhile historical elements, when old
buildings are to be torn down, their facade must be
securely preserved like this one here.

Just up the street, we enter the ruins.

 

Sadly, for the folks who planned to build a wonderful
new residence with a beautiful red facade, their digging
unearthed part of the theater which then took over
their building site.

A entrance from the other side. Any blocks that are newer
are a solid color. Note the columns at the left. The solid
chunks are new.

The round blocks are former columns that were cut up
when this became a market place to stabilize or
build walls.

An entrance at the upper levels for the lower classes

View from the top (our favorite thing to do at such
locations is climb to the top)

From here, we walked back to the main street and headed toward another ruin, especially notable for a temple to an Egyptian goddess, Isis, founded in the 1st century and in use for about 200 years.The site also housed dining and bathing facilities and is still being excavated.

What we think the Temple of Isis originally looked like

One of the fine pedestrian streets

The remains of the temple of Isis

Looking toward the dining and bathing areas

This area housed a central room and 4 surrounding
dining rooms.