CARTAGENA: The Palimpsest City.

Cartagena is an old city in the south-corner of Spain (not to counfound with its sister city in Colombia!). I took advantage of May 1st bank holiday to check it out, on my way to the real goal: Valencia (more about this town in another article).

^{Cartagena, Murcia region.}

I was really looking forward to visiting Cartagena. As its name suggests, it's thanks to Carthage that this city came out of the shadow of history. It was not so much literally founded by the Carthaginians as acquired from a local Iberian tribe, and then developed to become their headquarters in southern Spain.

^{The founder of Punic Cartagena: Hasdrubal.}

However, you would struggle to find anything from this time. Cartagena was conquered by the Romans in the second Punic war and incorporated into the Republic and then the Empire, making it a powerful asset for the growing maritime empire of the Romans thanks to its excellent harbour.

^{Cartagena's port.}

It must be noted that the old city of Cartagena was almost completely surrounded by water, which is why it was so much coveted in ancient times. Nowadays, however, Cartagena has only its southern flank open to the waters of the Mediterranean: the waters have receded, or more precisely the harbour became silted:

^{Reconstitution of what Cartagena looked like, surrounded by water.}

^{Plan of the modern Cartagena: no more water in the north.}

This little peninsula was dotted with a handful of hills which made it particularly easy to fortify and defend, and to this day these hills are still there and you can explore them, because they host some of the most important leftovers from this glorious past: first of all the Roman Amphitheater, one of the best kept in Spain:

^{The “Molinete” hill, which was a kind of northern barrier of the old punic city. Now, beyond it, you can see the modern city sprawling.}

... and the Punic Wall museum which shows the remnants of the wall guarding the eastern side of the city. But not much else.

^{Foundations of the easter n wall of the Punic town}

^{Crypt, inside the walls, used as a burial place.}

Cartagena struck me as a town fallen on hard time, who presents a quite pleasant marina area for the tourists who come by boat to the city, but if you come by land, you might be underwhelmed by its unkempt aspect, the amount of buildings, who, when they are not completely razed to the ground, are simply left abandoned and open to the four winds. Thankfully, there are a few left who can give an idea of the splendour of old:

^{The old townhall}

The good thing about having so many derelict buildings was that it offered an endless canvas for artists to cover with their creativity, as you can see:

v

It was especially funny to see in the harbour the famous Sailing Yacht "A", designed by Philippe Starck for a Russian billionaire. According to my sources, this hugely expensive boat has been beset by issues since its launch in 2015 and when I saw it, it was in repair, and might not sail for a long time. Maybe it's for the best for Cartagena: jobs for the port, and a great boat to take photos of!

^{Big boat stuck.}

^{SAILING YACHT A}

Last but not least, I have to mention that the city center is impeccable and can boast some awesome places for having breakfast or drinks, which can rival with any other city: I could not recommend enough Mister Witt and El Soldadito de Plomo.