Cartageña

There was a little fishing village in a trading post here at Cartageña even before the Phoenicians from old Carthage, now in Tunisia, documented their ships landing in this perfect port as early as 800 BC. The old Iberians here called this place Mastia. High hills surrounding the bay provide the perfect defensive positions for fortresses to protect the fleet. No wonder the Romans drove out the Carthaginians.

On our last visit here we saw the Roman theater and the accompanying museum. Both are well worth visiting. Especially important is the display in the Castillo de la Concepción relating the extraordinary history of King Alfonso the Wise. When most of Europe did not even know the Bible in any language other than Latin, he had teams of Jewish, Muslim and Christian scholars reading the Bible in the original languages. They translated Plato, Aristotle and other Greek philosophers. All three religions flourished here, their adherents living side-by-side in peace. Doctors here were practicing modern medicine. Science here was centuries ahead of the rest of Europe.

But today we went to a different part of the city to see what was, in Roman times, the center of town. The Museo Foro Romano Molinete displays the excavated remains of the Roman forum, as well as the ruins of a few temples, including the Temple of Isis. This building shows that the oriental mystery cults, which were popular in the eastern Mediterranean, made it as far as Spain by the second century. Layers above show that the town went through an economic depression in the third and fourth centuries, despite several attempts to revitalize the city. Even in difficult economic times, however, the port here never stopped functioning.

Every time we have been here the weather has been perfect, sunny and not too hot. So it was today. We are leaving soon, around 1:30 PM, but as we go away we will carry with us a new set of happy memories about New Carthage.Read more