Sunday 1^st June – Cartagena

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Today we were up with the lark and off to explore Cartagena.

First off we visited the Cartagena Naval Base.  Apparently each year they have an open weekend and allow the public access to the base to view some of the warships and submarines and coincidentally this was that weekend with one morning and one afternoon tour each day. 

We managed to get there in time for the morning tour and discovered that there were another 200 people there too – far more than they were expecting and of course nearly all Spanish. Despite the numbers we enjoyed our visit and had free access to the ships.  Although this was clearly a local affair, we were made welcome and even found one of the officers spoke English and could explain proceedings to us.

We arrived back at Pyxis mid afternoon for some lunch and then headed off again.  First we visited the outside of the old bullring which is marked as Anfiteatro Romano on the map; this is currently derelict so we couldn’t go in.

We then took the panoramic elevator up the side of the hill for a walk around the grounds of the Castillo de la Concepción.  There were great views from the top across the harbour, the town and surrounding hills.  From here we were also able to look down into the old bullring, the old Roman theatre and cathedral, and the Auditorio Municipal.  There were also a large number of peacocks and peahens strolling around the grounds.  We then had a fairly long walk around to get a closer look at the old Roman theatre which is currently being restored.

This evening we were able to catch up with Stephen and Anne from Wandering Dragon – they are leaving tomorrow for pastures new and we wanted to say hello to Yo-yo and Koshka before they go – although we were in the dog house (or should we say cat house) as we did not have any duck with us tonight for them.

We went back to Pyxis and then decided to go for a late walk along the front to see Cartagena at night.  As we arrived in the town square a Naval orchestra were finishing an open air concert they had been giving in the square - we were just in time for the end of the final piece and applause but good to see anyway.