We spent two days in the harbor city of Cartegena on the Mediterranean Sea. The first day was a free day, and so in the morning I went out to explore with Audrey. We met up with Reyn, Amy and Paul while walking down the street and decided to grab some lunch. We spotted a funny sign on a street that read “we speak a little English and we serve the best paella” so we decided to try the traditional Spanish dish. Despite the claims of their sign, the restaurant waiters didn’t really speak English, but we made ourselves clear and ordered the “house special”—seafood and carne paella. When the dish came out the kitchen, we were a bit shocked. A gigantic pan—bigger than a traditional pizza—of thick, steaming rice and seafood mixture was set in front of us. Though the food was delicious, we were a bit worried about the bill. Sure enough, we had ordered an $80 lunch. Laughing it off, we paid our $16 each lunch—our pockets stinging just a little. We vowed to eat oranges and bread for the next few lunches to make up for our loss.
After lunch we explored the harbor a bit. It was a beautiful sunny day and the Mediterranean was lapping against the edge of the city. A huge cruise ship rested in the large harbor, and a giant yellow wall enclosed the naval headquarters and the military naval port. After exploring for a while more we headed back to the hotel to meet the group for a dinner overlooking the harbor.
The next day we got to tour three of the main attraction sites in Cartegena—Conception Castle, the Archeology Museum, and the 1st century Roman theatre. The castle had some great panoramic views of the entire city, and right below it was the well-preserved Roman theatre. The theatre used to be a massive construction—with a stage as high as two large marble columns. Some of these remains were visible to us today. Something interesting about this particular theatre was its situation in the middle of the city—it had been built over and covered up and was only recently discovered in the mid-1900’s. The city has been purchasing houses and demolishing them since then in order to excavate the ruins. The archeology museum displayed an ancient burial ground, as well as a large collection of artifacts from prehistoric times until the Roman era in Cartegena.
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| The theatre of Cartegena, with the city in the background |
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| The most expensive lunch in Spain |
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| Welcome to Cartegena! |
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| Me, Reyn and Hannah |
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| Oh yeah, there were peacocks at the castle. |
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| Red Group in the Cartegena theatre |
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