Cartagena, Spain - Roman Theater

On Sunday, after our Saturday trip to Alhambra, Margot and I drove down to Cartagena. Just to be sure everyone is grounded, this is the Cartagena in Spain - not the one in Columbia where the Secret Service got in trouble.

 Our objective was to visit the Roman Theatre or Teatro Romano. We weren't exactly sure where it was so I asked the GPS to take us there. After driving around the narrow streets of old Cartagena for a few minutes, I gave up on that just went to a known parking garage at the harbor front. Not knowing exactly where we were going, we took a tourist elevator up on the highest hill in Cartagena and then went looking for the Roman Theater.

We stumbled across this at the top of the hill. Not sure what it is but it must be associated with the fort that was at one time there.

We walked along until we found this overlook that looks down into the theater. We found a park employee that told us how to get down to the  entrance. The directions were rather complicated and we missed a turn. Anyway, we finally ended up at the entrance which is several stories below the theater. You access the theatre through a museum and a series of escalators.

Here we are inside the amphitheater. I think it seated about 6000. It was built between 5 and 1 B.C.










In the 3rd century a market was built on part of the site and later destroyed in 425 A.D. Later the Byzantines established a market there in the 6th century. In the 13th century a cathedral was built on part of the site. You can see a portion of it in the picture above. The cathedral was destroyed by bombing during the Spanish Civil War in 1939.

This picture is, I think, a replica of part of the 2 story area behind the stage.

Here is the same picture from a slightly different angle. You can see the modern building and laundry right next to the ancient ruins.


The theater was discovered in 1988 during a construction project. Excavations and reconstruction were completed in 2003 and the museum opened in 2008.

Here we see some of the column pieces found at the site.

Here is a nice YouTube video about the museum.
Museum Video

The is a picture of the Cartagena City Hall and the plaza outside. The entrance to the museum is in this area.

Here is the museum website. Google should automatically translate this to English for you.
Museo Teatro Romano

After our visit the the theater we had lunch at a restaurant on the street. Margot ordered paella. Carlos, if you are reading this I apologize. For others, Carlos is a colleague from Valencia, the home of paella, and in his opinion all paella in Cartagena and Murcia is crap.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paella

Here is another picture of the City Hall and a statue on the sidewalk out front. Margot thought it was a mailman but I'm pretty sure it depicts a sailor returning from the sea.

This is Monument to the Heroes of Santiago de Cuba and Cavite. It honors the sailors and marines who died during the Spanish-American War in 1898 in Cuba and the Philippines.

I couldn't resist. Actually the only real bum we saw in Spain. A lot of buskers and a few others soliciting money but this guy was unique.

We were walking around the harbor area and saw that there was a tourist boat leaving in a couple of minutes so we bought tickets and joined the tour.

During the tour you can get an idea about all the  fortifications built over the centuries to defend the harbor and town. Cartagena as a major port on the Mediterranean Sea for 1000s of years.

The other side from above. They look to be of the same vintage.

There were a dozen or so sailboats out on the water in some sort of race. These 2 seemed to be winning.

Cartagena has been a major Spanish naval base since the 1700s. It is the home of the Spanish submarine force. Issac Peral was a native of Cartagena.This is the Peral submarine which was built in 1888 and was the first practical submarine.

Here is something different. On the drive back to Murcia we noticed a flock of sheep being herded down a road next to the highway by a man and a couple of dogs. We wondered where they were going. Later we saw another heard of sheep in a recently harvested field and it dawned on us where the earlier sheep were going. They were cleaning up the leftovers from the vegetable farm.

La Alhambra - Granada, Spain

On Saturday, a week ago, Margot and I drove to Grenada to visit the Alhambra.

The drive there is very pleasant. The elevation gets up to about 3500 ft or so on the highway with much higher mountains nearby. We were getting a little nervous as the temp kept going down as we went up. However, the weather in Granada was very nice.

The Alhambra is comprised of several elements. This is a picture of the Alcazaba or fortress section.

The other sections include the Nasrid Palace, the Generalife, Palace of Carlos V and the gardens surrounding the buildings.

The Alcazaba is the oldest part of the complex. It dates to the 1300s although there were some Roman fortifications on the site much earlier.

This is a little wider view of the fort.

We didn't spend too much time in the fort and focused most of our visit on the Nasrid Palace.

This is the gate through which one must pass to get from the fortress to the palace.














Here are a couple of shots of the outside of the Nasrid palace.

The Alhambra is the most visited site in Spain according to some sources.

The complex lay in ruins and largely forgotten for many years. The Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving, published in 1832, was instrumental in increasing interest in the complex.

Irving stayed in the Alhambra while collecting material for his stories.






You Kindle owners can get a copy of the book from Amazon for $0.99 if you want it. Tales of the Alhambra from Amazon

The Nasrid palace consisted of a number of structures and gardens built over the years by successive Muslim kings. The buildings underwent a number of changes in subsequent years after the re-conquest of Granada in 1492.

A beautiful pool - a central element of Islamic architecture.

This is a garden in the center of the palace.

Click to enlarge.

Another view of the garden from a second story window.

Another garden.

The walls are covered with carved marble and tile.

I understand the stalactite type ceiling motif is classic Moorish architecture.

More carvings.

Still more.

And more.

If you want to learn more here are a couple of links.

Alhambra

Wikipedia Link

Can any of my Saudi friends tell me what this says?

Please use the comment area if you can make this out.

Here we are with the old city of Granada in the background.

The ceilings are intricately done in wood normally.

A different sort of vaulted ceiling.

Click to enlarge.










This room is amazing.

I don't remember the story on this star shaped structure.











After 1492 several churches where built on the property.















Same church different view.















Another church.

This is a view of the old city of Granada directly at the base of Alhambra.

As we were enjoying the view, I noticed this crowd of people across the valley. At first I thought it was a wedding or something at the church. Then I realized that everyone was gathering to admire the view of the Alhambra.

When we finished our visit we decided to see if we could locate this spot.

We guessed the location and plugged it into the GPS and started out. We never did find that location but did find this spot on the way. Notice the snow covered mountains in the background behind the Alhambra.

I walked several blocks up the street and followed a tour group into a neighborhood. I stepped into the entry way of a restaurant to get this picture of the Alhambra.

The streets were very narrow - many pedestrian only. It was hard to keep track of which direction you were headed.

Finally a picture of the city and mountains near the exit of site.


Here is a link to a posting about a visit I made with a colleague a couple of years ago. Alhambra is in the second half of this posting.

Alhambra visit in 2010

Recent postings about Spain
http://tomandmargotsphotos.blogspot.com/2012/04/murcia-spain-monasterio-de-la-fuensanta.html.

Murcia, Spain - Santuario de La Fuensanta, Cathedral

I was back in Spain for business over the last couple of weeks.

Here are a few pictures from around Murcia.

This is the Sanctuary Our Lady of the Fuensanta in the mountains south of Murcia. It dates back to the end of the 17th century.

I have seen this place on hillside on my way to the plant several times and wondered what it was all about. On Friday early evening Margot and I drove out to see if we could figure out how to get there.

The Spanish name is Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Fuensanta.

Through the miracle of frequent flyer miles, Margot was able to join me for about 5 days.

She is standing in front of the Sanctuary with the city of Murcia in the valley behind.

Here is another shot from the other side.

The place was closed when we arrived but it is open for tours earlier in the day.

Click any of the pictures to enlarge them.

This is the Casa del Cabildo or Casa del Sacristan which I understand to mean the caretakers of the sanctuary and the monastery. It looked a little run down.

Here is another view from near the Cabildo. The building to the left of the sanctuary is the monastery.

This is the view from the sanctuary.

I'm not sure what this building is. It may be a former school. It is located a little higher on the hillside and to the west of the Fuensanta.

This passage way is between the sanctuary and the monastery.

Later in the evening we walked down to the center of Murcia. Sort of killing time until it got late enough to eat dinner. It is true that no one goes out for dinner until 9:00 PM or later.

This is a picture of the river side of the Palacio Episcopal which is the official seat of the Diocese of  Cartagena.

Construction on this version of the Palacio Episcopal started in 1748.

This is the Cathedral of Murcia on Cardinal Belluga Square. The building in the right foreground is the opposite side of the same building above.

Here is the same picture, more or less, at night.

This is the back side of the cathedral. Notice the chain on the building facade.

This is a night picture of the Iglesia Conventual Santo Domingo

I published similar pictures in earlier blog postings that can be reached by clicking the links below.

Murcia, Spain Pictures  <--- Click here.