Calle Mayor Shopping Street
This second port of call on this cruise, Cartagena, was a true delight.
Founded in 227 B.C. by the Carthaginian Hasdrubal the Fair, Cartagena, a vibrant port city on Spain’s southeast Mediterranean coast, has a long history with a plethora of monuments documenting the passing of at least five civilizations.
Being a rather small city, it’s easy to walk from one site to the other, starting with the remains of the Punic Walls.
In the small, very protected harbor our massive cruise ship was parked right in the town’s square so to speak.
You walk through customs and immigration with smiling and waving officials and you are on Calle Mayor, a vast pedestrian shopping street with numerous sidekicks, restaurants, eateries and museums and delightful churches within minutes from your cabin on the ship. Our Canadian friends Caralee and Darcy joined us for a very pleasant day out on the town.
This Mediterranean, southern Spanish city is known for five major historic cultures that swept through the area from the Phoenicians to the Romans, to the Moors and the Spaniards, dating more than 3,000 years back. The background of the city is elevated by low hills-sides moving to medium mountains in the further distance and many of the peaks have defensive historically military installations like castles and forts ornamenting the summits.
What is truly remarkable is that when you walk onto Calle Mayor, almost immediately on the right, there is the Roman museum built around and with the old Roman Amphitheater attached. As seniors we paid only $6 admission per person and you have the choice between elevators and escalators when it comes to getting around the museum into the well preserved Colosseum-like amphitheater. Very worth a visit.
Since this cruise signified our departure from the US with an extended period of country traveling in AirBnBs, we are not doing any souvenir shopping anymore, since we currently don’t even have a refrigerator for our hundreds of destination magnets. So shopping is a very limited option.
A quick stop at the drugstore for some replenishments of needed medical and supplement vitamin stuff and the prices pleasantly surprised us. Walking the cobblestoned street, admiring the great varieties of architectural creativity, was followed by a stop at a sidewalk café for some Cappuccinos and sweets and boy was that good. It just tasted real.
It was a day of relaxed picture taking under a blue sunny sky, an afternoon that made us understand the concept of “taking a siesta” and Cartagena entered definitely our list of places to revisit in the future.
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