October 14, 2022: Leaving Valencia was difficult, in many ways. First we couldn’t find our car, despite having taken a picture of the parking space. What we didn’t have was a picture of the entrance to the underground parking garage, of which there were three in the same block. Needless to say, the third one was where we eventually found our car. Once we got our luggage loaded up, we went back to see Valencia’s public market, and then got on the road to Cartagena.
A happy man knows where his car is.
Dome in the market.
The mercado was a busy place but the high ceilings kept it light and airy and it never felt crowded.
On our way to Cartagena, we stopped for lunch in El Campello at a pizzeria called Bar Lami. A homey downscale place with delicious pizza and salad.
When we arrived in Cartagena, we carefully took a picture of the parking garage entrance so we could find our car again.
We checked in to our AirBnB. This was the view from our living room:
We set out for dinner and some sight-seeing, but when we came back, a little piece of “lint” in the bed moved on its own. So we moved too, to a hotel in nearby Los Alcázares, where they were having a festival:
October 15, 2022: After staying the night in Los Alcázares, we came back to Cartagena to see a Spanish civil war museum, and some Roman ruins.
Pleasure-boat portion of the port of Cartagena.
Statue in the port area dedicated in 2009 to victims of terrorism in Madrid, in 2004.
Spanish civil war museum is located in an air raid shelter from that war. Cartagena saw a lot of action during the civil war.
Cartagena was a provincial capital in the Roman empire. Accordingly there are many Roman ruins, including this portion of the Forum.
More Roman forum.
Pillars in the forum.
Lunch in Cartagena. Delicious ribs and who knows what else.
This was on the way to the Roman theater.
The Roman theater.
These columns were part of the theater’s stage.
Staircase in the theater. No banister, so it was a little touchy getting down.
We returned to Los Alcázares to explore along the beach.
Welcome to Los Alcázares!
The waterfront. The body of water is Mar Menor.
The beach at Mar Menor. Mar Menor is a lagoon formed by thin barrier peninsulas. It means “minor sea” as opposed to the Mediterraean, which is on the other side of the barrier.
The Monumento al Pescador depicts the mermaids helping the sad fisherman by filling his nets with fish.
We had dinner at Restaurante San Antonio, on a pier over the water.
Paparajotes are a typical dessert of Murcia, made with lemon leaves coated with a dough made with flour and egg that are fried and sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon. Our waiter advised us not to eat the lemon leaves.
The waterfront at night.
