Trip to Cartagena : 3^rd – 19^th February 2013

We left Portsmouth on Sunday 3^rd February by ferry to Bilbao to drive through Spain to Cartagena. A smooth crossing with excellent food.

Our first stop was in the Parador of Soria. The hotel had wonderful views down to the town and river with snow capped hills beyond.

Thence south, stopping at Calatayud, a town with Moorish towers and storks’ nests.

And stopping to view the reservoir and dam at San Blas, just outside Teruel.

Teruel is a pleasant small town, but was the scene of the decisive battle in the Civil War, which took place during January and February 1938 in the coldest winter of the century, with over 100,000 dead. No sign or memorial of it seems to exist.

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The Parador in Teruel was a little disappointing: good food but no views and rather close to industrial developments. However the town was worth a visit. In the main square is a statue of a very small bull (el torico) – supposedly the smallest in Spain!

Teruel cathedral is very fine with a carved roof showing both Christian and Islamic symbolism. The town itself is full of Mudejar influences.

Driving on south we visited the hilltop town of Castielfabib in a superb setting with terraced fields below. We climbed right to the top, where the view was wonderful but the wind was icy.

And an impressive fortified castle above.

That night we stayed in the Parador in Alarcón, another tiny fortified town set high on a hill with a deep river gorge running around it. The Parador, in an 8^th century Moorish castle, where a Moorish prince died and a later Christian prince wrote some very fine medieval poetry, was almost empty and the town deserted; an icy wind brought flurries of snow. Excellent venison and Iberian pork for dinner.

One can well understand how Alarcón could withstand a siege of 6 months as its setting and fortifications make it nigh on impregnable.

From Alarcón it was a further 150 miles to Cartagena where we arrived on Thursday afternoon to find Ione in good order.

Since then we have been doing a host of boat maintenance jobs and catching up with friends. However, we were able to watch a wonderful Carneval procession, with performers and dancers in fancy dress and very elaborate costumes, in the main street on Sunday night, and we also managed one day touring, driving south west along the coast.

Visiting Mazarron, where there are two small marinas.

And Aguilas.

We are now finishing the last of the boat jobs and awaiting the final fitting of our new cockpit cover. We leave Cartagena on Sunday morning early to drive to Santander, spending one night in Lerma on the way, and then getting the ferry home.

Tony & Sarah

15 February 2013