CARRYING ON IN CARTAGENA

November 2, 2019


Our first port day of this cruise was in a city we’ve been privileged to visit several times.  But today we did something we hadn’t done before.  As I predicted last night we rode the Hop On Hop Off Bus, but not before we realized I am geographically challenged, or don’t always pay close attention (at least that’s the blame, my story, and I’m sticking to it).

So, here it.  You know that there is a Cartagena in Spain and another in Columbia.  Okay, so far so good.  And I know that as well.  But when I went online to buy our tickets before we left 233, I clicked the wrong button and when I presented our voucher for our tickets, the lady pointed out I’d bought HOHO for the wrong country.  I’m going to contact the site, confess my wrong doings and sinful ways and see if I can get a refund.  I’ve already suffered enough for my mistake.

The ride was fun.  An hour tour around the city and we saw some things we hadn’t seen before and made notes to walk to them if we get to come back.  We saw a yarn shop, but when we got back to the starting point my traveling companion didn’t want to walk back that far, so we’ll check it another time.

We went into a very nice nautical museum that I had read about several years ago when I was preparing a talk on Cartagena, but it was always closed on our other visits, and the frustrating part is, it’s right off the ship.  But today it was open, and people who are older than dirt – your favorite cruisers qualify – get in free.  You can also get in free if you are under 5 and/or out of work.  One of the neat things about the museum is a display of several sunken ships that have been raise, preserved, and reconstructed for the museum.  The guess is that they are over 1500 years old.  I took some photos to insert into the talk, should I ever get the opportunity to do it again.

I was scheduled to meet with the head of the technical team in the theater tonight to see if our new computer will cooperate with the ship’s system, but when I got there, he apologized because in preparation for tonight’s performance – and an incredible show it was – a special surface was put on the floor of the stage, covering up the computer outlets.  So we’ll try it again tomorrow.

Well, tonight, Mom is the one who is fading fast, so I’ll end my part and let her regail you with our adventures.

TTFN

Fading, fading, fading ......and he is officially cold!! So what else is new. Well, at 7 am I was wide awake and sneaked a peek out our window and we were toodling up the coast of Spain headed to Cartagena. I watched as the dark was fading as we were  sailing.  We passed a couple of small row boats heading out to sea as we headed into the port. There were several light houses that were sending out their lights. I watched as the boat came into the port and we docked on our side. How cool. Then, after showering and dressing we headed to the Lido for breakfast. Filling water bottles we headed to our room to pick up our traveling stuff. We sat turtle in the window a top my pink neck pillow so he could have a view of the city. When we got off the ship we found him and took a picture.

The city was as I had remembered. It was Saturday and they were have some kind of celebration because there were many local people dressed in clothes of the world war I era, all with their bicycles and kind of parading around. As we were walking back to board the hop on hop off the people had all mounted their bicycles and with a motorcycle police escort were headed off down the street in a procession. That was neat. Later as we rode on the bus tour we passed them in the city still peddling away.

The bus tour was really cool. We had not done this before and when we come back have spotted a few more neat things that we can do. After the museum, which was really neat, I took some interesting pictures of some miniature scenes that they had set up showing the progression of the cities through time. They had one huge long glass case that was filled with coins that had been recovered from different sea wrecks. There were literally 1000's and some were in magnificent shape. You could see the pictures of the Romans and others that were on them. There was all types of pottery and other stuff they had salvaged. There was an anchor  that belongs to a ship that is located in a museum in Virginia. The wreck is shared by Spain and the USA. It was interesting reading how you had to handle stuff that had been found  under water in order to restore it.

Well, then it was back on the ship and up to the Dive In for lunch. They have hotdogs, hamburger, FF and milkshakes. Everything is free except the milkshakes. Your Dad surprised me with a chocolate milkshake along with my hot dog with jalapenos and cheese. YUM. He was getting shaggy so we stopped by the salon and he got a haircut. Expensive! Then it was off for a game of cards and I lost again.

After that he went to the room and washed the hair off and got ready to go to see the tech guy. I went out on deck 3 so I could watch the people getting back on and the sail away. Everybody was back on in time and we were actually pushing off early. The Captain came on as we were leaving and said we were to get some swells from 10-15 feet because of some weather coming from Gibraltar. It should start to get rough about 10 pm. I don’t mind it helps me to sleep.

The show tonight was fantastic and we got out of supper early enough to get a really good seat. This theater is something else when it comes to technology. You can’t explain it , you have to see it. We stopped in the shops on the way back to the room. I had seen a 75% sale sign and I wanted to look. We bought 9 things and only spent $8.72. Really cool. Some of you will be receiving our finds.

We are now in the room. I am drinking his half can of left over ginger ale and he got a fresh can for tonight. It is good when I mix it with water and Mio and ice. YUM.

Supper tonight was soup, prime rib and a sundae. He ate my mushrooms and  my cookie and part of my sundae.

Well, it is time for bed. We are to arrive in Malaga at 7 am and stay till 4:30 pm tomorrow. So some sleep is needed if we are to tour around tomorrow. There is a 5 euro shuttle to take us into town. It is Sunday so most things will be closed but it will be fun to ride around and see the sights.

Love Mom, Granny and Bonnie