Why should you come to Cartagena?

Cristina Luján Moreno 3º AIES EL BOHIO CARTAGENA

SPAIN

Meet Cartagena

Cartagena is a beautiful Mediterranean city on a unique setting of south eastern Spain. Mastienos, Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians and Romans, Byzantines and Arabs, all left their historical traces and forged, with the passing of the centuries, the idiosyncrasy of contemporary Cartagena natives.

It is a bright and cheerful city where the sun shines for more than 300 days a year. Its gentle weather, with mild temperatures in winter, and the beautiful, rich variety of its landscapes make Cartagena a place of extraordinary tourist appeal, where one can also find interesting ruins, XVIII-century castles and fortresses, as well as late XIX and early XX century modernist buildings.

Our setting

Port : From the sea, you get a completely different vision of the city of Cartagena. On board of a modern twin-hulled boat you can have a fascinating experience: discovering every corner of the city, its natural harbour and, at the same time, find out more about all the city´s system of defensive fortifications -its wall, its monuments, its castles- You can also learn about the stories and legends that tell us of its past, and about the commercial and military role Cartagena has played over its more than 3000 years of history.

A walk through all the maritime accidents in the dock shelter to enjoy all the port settings

Beautiful beaches

Calblanque : A natural, protected, extremely scenic beach. Located in the Calblanque Regional Park it is one of the natural spaces on the coast which is preserved in an almost virgin state. Its great natural riches are based on the arid sierras, long beaches of golden and ochre sands, solitary coves and beautiful formations of fossil dunes, white salt lakes and mountainous massifs which stand out against the blue of the sea. It offers quality golden sands and the chance to enjoy the stunning surroundings

Cala Cortina : An isolated, but very busy beach. Good services as well as a seaside promenade for pleasant strolls. THE BEACH IS ACCESSIBLE TO THE DISABLED AND PEOPLE WITH REDUCED MOBILITY

La Azohía ( La Chapineta ): Quiet, urban beach with an average number of visitors. Offers an average range of facilities. Isla Plana and La Azohía are small towns of great natural and environmental beauty and extensive sand beaches. There is a bus stop for the Alsina Graells line, Cartagena-Mazarrón.

Our taste: Mediterranean food Seafood products are the base for Cartagena cuisine, species that are

captured in the Mediterranean sea and the ones from el Mar Menor. So, fish species like gilthead seabream, dusky grouper, dentex or mujol (a local fish species) are cooked using different techniques: grilled, coated with salt or roasted. The main fish dish from the local cuisine is, no doubt, the CALDERO.

Besides seafood products, there is also a great variety of products from the Campo de Cartagena like peas (called "pésoles" by local people), tomatoes which are eaten raw, accompanying the aforementioned saltings, artichoke ("alcacil") and broad beans. Dried broad beans are the base of another key dish from Cartagena cuisine: MICHIRONES

The meat-based dishes contain rabbit as the most typical product from local gastronomy. Thus, dishes like ARROZ Y CONEJO (RICE AND RABBIT) or CONEJO AL AJO CABAÑIL (GARLIC RABBIT) can be found almost in every inn and restaurant of our region. These dishes can be accompanied by the wines produced in the Campo de Cartagena. They can be white, red and pink.

Desserts: mainly melons, prickly pears, ARROPE (a sort of jam made of grape juice) and TOCINO DE CIELO (egg and syrup pudding).

It is possible to taste some typical drinks like: "Asiático", i.e. coffee with condensed milk and cognac, some drops of Liquor 43 and a pinch of cinnamon. This drink must be served in a special kind of crystal glasses which are made exclusively for it.

For fun Cartagena lives within history, but history is also alive in our city, so intensely that

our people played a leading role in the events which took place in this region more than 2200 years ago, turning them into a unique festival in our country: Carthaginians and Romans.

This festival is based on the second Punic War and on characters such as Hannibal and his winning rival, Cornelius Scipio. Celebrations begin with the foundation of Qart-Hadast by Asdrubal in 223 B.C. and end with the Roman victory in 209 B.C. For ten days, all the heroic deeds which took place during the years of the Carthaginian rule, as well as the defeat and invasion by the Roman Empire, are performed and lived in an unparalleled atmosphere by natives and foreigners alike. In the second fortnight of September, Cartagena and its people get inside history and revive it for ten magnificent days in which the heroic deeds of Carthage and Rome are remembered. The scenes are usually staged at the very place in which the event took place in ancient times.

In a huge setting, the 50 groups which embody Carthaginians and Romans decorate the camp and put up bars open to all the visitors. In this way, the camp becomes a big city set in ancient times where the art and symbols of Rome and Carthage, Greece, Iberia and Phoenicia are found all around. Joy, hustle and entertainment are the stars of these nights where one can eat and drink with Scipio himself, share a wedding cake with Hannibal, witness the kidnap of a beautiful damsel or the invasion of enemy tents by Carthaginian and Roman warriors. The Carthaginians and Romans Festival typifies the way of thinking and acting of a city which has managed to blend present and past to playfully live what it was.