The day at Cartagena - Tuesday

   Tuesday 13 March – trip for the English group to Cartagena

Cartagena gets its name from the Carthaginians (Hannibal et al) who  conquered this particularly pleasant, strategically situated, Mediterranean port with its natural defensive hills all around.  In the wars with the Romans however, the Romans beat the Carthaginians and then took over, establishing many lasting changes, but some of which were only recently uncovered.

Principal amongst these is the Roman amphitheatre, which we visited today. This was only discovered in 1988. By scary lift up to the castle in the middle of the town (also a link with the bombings of the Spanish Civil war) offered fantastic views, and the national nautical archaeology museum by the port, with, it is claimed, the first ever submarine (1885), was our final stop. In between students had a couple of hours at the out of town shopping centre, which had nothing at all to do with Romans nor Carthaginians. 

by the oldest submarine

very scary lift to the castle keep

the Roman amphitheatre was this big

modern English students following ancient Romans' steps

posing on stage

fun with letters

Some fascinating reactions from our students today:

Rhiannon: Beautiful views and a pretty city to visit

Max: Didn’t like the lift; not good with man-made metal structures. Town was beautiful, pet shop in the shopping centre has a chinchilla that I wanted

Mollie: The free time was great: the lift up to the castle was amazing

Yssy: It was fun and a good day out. Pretty views

Steven: I enjoyed the shopping and the American food [Macdonalds], and learning about the submarine

Katie: It was a good history trip, but it was not as interesting as the Alhambra trip. I enjoyed the shopping

James: I enjoyed the shopping and the shipwreck [in the nautical museum]

Finally, for Spanish speakers, Rhiannon and Esme penned this blog entry:

Estar en Espana es muy guay. La familia es tan simpatica y me dan todo lo que necesito, y mucho mas! Hace mucho calor, y nadar en el mar fue fantastico. Las playas son guapas, y estar con todos los amigos y los espanoles es lo mejor.