Cartagena, Spain

The history here is long and rich indeed. The city is on a site selected by Hasdrubal, brother-in-law to Hannibal of elephant fame. In 219BC Hannibal brought his armies (and elephants) to Iberia and captured Roman-allied Saguntum (Sagunto). It was the Second Punic War (Carthage vs. Rome) and even though Hannibal was initially victorious, the war ended with his decisive defeat at Zama near Carthage in 202BC.
 We are off on our own to discover this beautiful town. At the dock we meet up with Trevor and Frieda, our dinner mates and decide to tag along with them for a bit.
 I happen upon a 2E store. Reminds me of our $1 stores back home. 10E later I leave with a bag containing earrings to go with my Halloween costume, 2 bracelets made of polished stones and beads, a suede cowboy hat for Lee Anne to wear with her summer dresses and a nickel silver cuff bracelet that looks quite expensive.  I receive comments on the cuff every time I wear it.

Cobbled streets, Roman ruins, even relics from the Phoenicians all contribute to the long and rich history here. We trek through winding wide avenues and small alleyways in search of nothing in particular. We are just enjoying the excellent sunshine and mild breeze blowing in from the harbor.

Trevor and Frieda take in a church and a mass. We decide to make our way to Plaza de San Francisco (San Francisco Square). On our way we happen upon what appears to be an archaeological dig in the middle of an old residential area. We can see through the fence what appears at first to be caves. Then on down, alleys and building walls well below what is now street level appear. It is not until later that we understand what we are seeing.

After leaving the square we happen on Trevor and Frieda again and get to hear about the beautiful cathedral they visited. We join them for a cup of coffee at a quaint sidewalk cafe where I obtain a coffee cup from a very friendly waiter who even brings me a bag to put it in. Afterward we continue on our leisurely stroll of Cartagena with no direct destination in mind.

We arrive at the Museo TeatRomano de Cartagena (Roman Theater Museum). This theater was built in the late 1^st century BC and still retains its’ excellent acoustics. One can speak in a normal voice from anywhere inside and be heard with concise clarity. Small parts have been restored to what the original probably looked like to help the visitor imagine what a wonderful place it must have been. Now we realize that the excavation we saw earlier is actually part of this city during Roman times. This was the most well spent E4 (senior price - regular was only E5) we have ever spent and we were extremely happy we had decided to see it.

We start heading back to port and stop at a whardfside bistro for a cool drink since the day has turned out quite warm. There I offer to purchase another coffee cup but the manager is a young man who seems to think that all American tourists will pay anything for what they want. He started his price at 20E!! Then to my misfortune Trevor decided to try and help me negotiate by saying I might pay 10E! Trevor and I have now come to an understanding, He will not help negotiate prices and I will not threaten to make Frieda a widow. For the rest of the trip we laugh about this incident. I declined to purchase the cup by the way.
On the way back to the ship there are an abundance of tall palm trees. While looking at them we notice that the stumps of the removed fronds are different colors and comment on why this was. We speculate that perhaps they paint them with something to prevent disease or leaking sap of some kind. Later we discover they are not painted at all. In fact it was parrots in a riot of colors perched on the stubs of the removed fronds. There were hundreds of them!