An Ancient City with an Ancient Name!

Monday, April 4, 2011

                               

Cartagena was founded by the Phoenicians who had sailed here from Carthage in the 3rd Century BC.  The Carthaginian leader Hasdrubal selected the sight because of its easily defended location.  It was named New Carthage which eventually became Cartagena. Hannibal grew up here and, in a very daring military act, brought his army, including his elephants, to Cartagena during the 2nd Punic war (219 BC).  His plan, which he successfully completed, involved fighting his way up through Spain, across France and the Alps and down into Italy.  Of course this part of Spain was later occupied by the Romans, Visigoths, Moors, Spanish, English,and whoever else was in vogue at the time.

As we cruised towards the harbor you could see towering fortresses.  Part of a Punic wall built in 227 B.C. is on display in one of the closed museums.  It is easy to see why the ancient armies chose this as a defensible site.  The sail into and out of the harbor was very interesting because of all these battlements.

   

Cartagena today has dozens of restored Roman ruins from the time of the Roman occupation.  The restored Roman theater of Carthago Nova is one of the landmarks of the city. Sections of the Concepcion Castle and sections of old city wall were part of the old town.

   

There were several museums that we had hoped to visit, but they are closed on Monday.  We wandered the pedestrian area and really found an appreciation for the slow pace of life here in Cartagena.  The Europeans were so well dressed that it was easy to spot the passengers from the Prinsendam. 

           

The weather was a perfect 71 degrees and the skies were clear.  We strolled on the sea wall along the waterfront.  This wall was built in the 1700’s.  The first successful submarine (built in 1885) was displayed along this waterfront walk.  The submarine structures that control diving have certainly changed.  We couldn’t help but compare this submarine to the Huntley (1860’s) which we saw in Charleston last summer.

    

The buildings were elaborate in detail.  Many were built using materials from previous civilizations.  There was a photo op at every turn.  Most of these buildings are difficult to describe so we’ll send more photos than usual.

   

                          

    

                       

We had planned to visit three churches but only found two of them. The churches were not freestanding.  They were nestled in plain buildings touching the shops and hotels and other building adjacent to them.  Religious mosaics could be found on the exterior of some of the churches.

                          

Cartagena lies at 1 degree Latitude West of the Prime Meridian.  We sailed out at 2:45 p.m., an hour late.  The Captain explained that the delay was caused because they were late loading spare parts, whatever that means.  We sailed mostly northwest and clicked the Latitude off waiting to climb over the Prime Meridian, but because of the late sailing we were in the dining room when we felt the famous bump.  It was more prominent than usual because, as our friend Tom in Santa Barbara told us, the line has been doubled in size to allow enhanced observance by the International Space Station.

Good bye Cartagena, Hello, tomorrow to Mahon, on the island of Minorca.  .