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The Med

“An update on Position Progress and the Weather”. That’s how the Commodore starts his midday broadcast. Today, Wednesday 26 November, he told us that we would be entering the Straits of Gibraltar at about 1600 hours. The sun was shining as we saw Morocco on our starboard side.

 

The Officer of the Watch pointed out Tangier and Tarifa (the southernmost Spanish town) and some 30 minutes later we were passing Ceuto in Morocco with the Rock of Gibraltar on the Port side.
        Ceuto

    Gibraltar


As I returned to the cabin with my camera, the Commodore made a further broadcast. He told us that a gale was buiding up in the Med to the north and that it had been decided that to avoid horrible weather for our calls to Barcelona and Toulon, our itinerary was to be rearranged:
Thursday 27th.- Cartagena, as planned
Friday 28th.     – At sea instead of Barcelona
Saturday 29th. – Livorno instead of Toulon
Sunday 30th.   – Ajaccio instead of Livorno
Monday 1st.    – Barcelona instead of Ajaccio

The net result is that we miss Toulon and have an extra day at sea. It seems that the forecast indicates that we would not have been able to berth safely at Toulon on Saturday.

Just before hearing the Commodore’s report, I bumped into David Ellis-Jones on deck 3. He told me that he and Pat (Bob Sperring’s sister) have recently moved from Bishops Waltham to Winchester – to the Barracks where Michael and Posie Yeomans live. Their cabin is on Deck 7 as is ours.
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Cartagena

What an amazing place. Cartagena is far enough away from cities like Alicante to the north and Malaga to the southwest to be largely ignored by tourists (well British tourists).

It has a wonderful harbour. Hannibal made his base here in 219 BC before leaving to cross the Alps into Italy with his army. Because of its strategic position and easily defended harbour, the city flourished under the Carthaginians and under the Romans.
Later, the city came under the influence of the Moors and then became a principality of Spain. King Philip II created a major port, but a century later the English occupied the city and then in 1723 the French ruled the area. In the latter part of the 17th century Cartagena declared itself independant but that was shortlived.
During the Spanish Civil War the region did not support Franco and was one of the last cities to fall into Franco’s hands.
What is astounding about the place is that in the 1980’s, when the city authorities decided to clear the whorehouses and bordellos, they knocked down the brothels and the other buildings in the area. And underneath they found Roman remains galore.

They found a massive theatre which archeologists have been working on and restoring. It is unbelievable that something so large could have been forgotten about. They also discovered the Forum and the Roman Baths which have been restored. There are numerous fine buildings to explore and the main street has been beautifully pedestrianised.

The QV’s berth was alongside a very busy marina. Southampton could learn from the way in which the waterfront has been laid out, because the cafes, the restaurants and the sea museums overlook the marina and the cruise ships.
As we located a table in the sun Tim and Jean Whitehead arrived and joined us for a well deserved and very strong coffee.


We suggest that if you haven’t been to Cartagena you make the trip. More and more of the Roman buildings are being recovered and restored and there is plenty to see.

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