Cartagena

Public Art and Sculpture in Cartagena

It takes less than an hour to cover the distance of 40km - as the crow flies - between Murcia and Cartagena, by bus. I just sat back and enjoyed the journey along the A30, which winds up and over a forested part of the Cordillera Betica. I hardly took my eyes off the landscape, trying to make some sense of a wide variety of rocky exposures that could be seen - in the road cuttings and steep sided river valleys - as we sped past them.

Once over the Cordillera Betica, the road heads straight towards Cartagena over a barren, relatively featureless plain, where only lemon trees seem to be in their element but, somewhere on the horizon, steep sided hills and mountains protrude from the landscape.

A Map of Cartagena

Leaving the bus station, I was confronted by the city wall, above which rose the Cerro de Despeñaperros, a steep fortified hill. 

Having left behind the hand drawn directions that would get me to the nearest tourist information office – I only remembered that I had to find the roundabout, turn left and head off down a long straight road towards the port.

At La Catedral Antigua de Santa María

Looking at the buildings and the road signs, for a clue to its whereabouts, I completely missed the roadside map that I have since discovered on Google Map. 

Wandering for an hour, along and around the long, narrow street that leads from both the bus and railway stations to the old city centre, I finally had to buy myself a map, in Spanish, from one of the kiosks - after stopping a few times to ask for directions and not understanding the response.

A detail at Cartagena Town Hall

The main reason for wanting to visit Cartagena was to see the Roman theatre and, whilst taking yet another unplanned detour around its exterior, in search of the entrance, I encountered some fantastic views of the city.

Finally, on the corner of the magnificent town hall, I found the tourist information office and, once I had gathered all the information that I needed, I went to look at the Roman theatre and its museum.

Ceramic murals

Exiting the Roman theatre by a gate that I had already found during my previous exploration of the hill, I went back down to Plaza de Ayuntamiento. 

The effects of 'el gripe', especially the lack of food, had begun to take its toll on my energy levels and I really didn't explore the city as much as I would have liked.

The area around the waterfront has obviously had money spent on it, as well as the part of the commercial centre which I saw in passing. Without really looking out for it, I saw plenty of interesting public art and sculpture, some fine architecture, the Muralla de Carlos III and I only scratched the surface of the history of this fantastic place.

A staircase on the Muralla de Carlos III

As an easily defended natural harbour and, having been the gateway to the region's mineral wealth for over 2000 years, the city has been fought over many times and fragments of ancient walls - of varying ages - are seen all over the city.

For its archaeological interest alone, a long weekend could easily be spent here, exploring the five small hills that form the core of the ancient city.

The Museum of Marine Archaeology

Although I would have appreciated the National Museum of Marine Archaeology much more, if I had had enough time to take advantage of the exceptional interpretation of the exhibits, as well as being able to take photographs, I was very impressed.

In particular, I liked the 'fossilised' box of coins that I saw and the way that amphorae were stored away in the ships.

The old bullring

With time moving on, I started to find my way back to the bus station, winding around some of the backstreets and discovering more excavations of walls along the way. 

Whilst walking around the campus of the Technical University of Cartagena I unexpectedly discovered the old dilapidated bullring, which itself is built on the ruins of the Roman amphitheatre, before coming across a large outcrop of rock - which obviously attracted my interest.

By now, most of the shops had closed for the afternoon siesta and, if I could have found a place to buy them, I would have really appreciated churros and chocolate. Instead I had to make do with a coffee, at the bus station, whilst reflecting on the day and anticipating my last night in Murcia, which lay ahead...

Glowing Edges Designs

Glowing Edges Designs

On Thursday night, the Language Workshop was held at the Puertas de Castilla - a centre for contemporary arts - and an English speaking guest is invited each week to talk about their work - including various authors and artists. 

Ceramic wall tiles and tableware

In a classroom, with tables to spread out examples of work that I had brought with me from England, and a nobo flipchart, to write down specialist vocabulary that relates to my work as a geologist and photographer, I talked for half an hour about my Glowing Edges Designs.

Describing the technique of cutting a thin slice of rock, grinding it down to a thickness of 0.03mm and mounting it on a slide, before viewing it through a polarising microscope, is not easy, when talking to native English speakers. Although still feeling unwell, I rose to the occasion and just took my time, talking slowly and clearly, as in other English lessons.

As various photographic prints were passed around, there were various oohs and aahs from my audience, when they saw the rich colours and textures that can be seen in nature, as well as others that I had digitally enhanced.

Tavolo in pietra lavica ceramizzata

Having explained that many of my geometrical designs were influenced by mandalas and the Moorish designs that I had seen during my first visit to Spain - 25 years ago in Andalucia - they were very interested in my ceramics.

Although I had sample ceramic wall tiles and tableware with me, I could only show them photographs of the tables that have been made for me in Sicily. 

I saved the best until last and, as always happens when I have shown them to people in England, there were restrained gasps from all round the room when I brought out my silk scarves and the women immediately tried them on. During my talk, everyone had the opportunity to ask me questions and, when I finished, I circulated around the classroom - both to talk in further depth about my scarves, and their purchase price, and to help out with the English question and answer exercises that had been prepared by Maria at the Language Workshop.

Designs for the first set of GED Rock Art Fabric silk scarves

By the end of the evening, I had forgotten all about 'la gripe' and felt right as rain, even when talking for another half hour on the pavement outside the Puertas de Castilla in the cold, with some of the various people that I had met that night. 

When I got home, I was extremely pleased to discover that more soup and medicine was waiting for me and, after a bit more conversation in Spanish, I finally went to bed for a good night's sleep, in preparation for my last day out in Murcia...

A small pashmina in chiffon silk

"La Gripe"

 

The Flu Virus

Luckily for me, Mari Carmen is a fully trained pharmacist and, as soon as I got home feeling and looking quite ill, I was bombarded with questions about my symptoms and various concoctions were served up to me, to fight a bout of the flu. "La Gripe", so I was informed, had been sweeping across Spain. Not normally being struck down with illness at home, I was glad to be in safe hands, especially since I have since noticed that the European Health Insurance Card, which I had with me, expired in 2011, shortly after I came back from Madrid.

Pharmaceuticals

At breakfast the next day, after a pretty bad night's sleep, I could hardly eat a thing, and it was obvious to me that I wasn't going to go anywhere that day. Given the change in my itinerary, I wanted to make the most of my last two days in Murcia and I had planned to visit both La Unión and Cartagena by bus.

Instead, I stayed at home with Mari Carmen, catching up with work on my computer, talking all of the time and learning all about the soup that she had prepared for me. After a few hours rest, I still didn't feel like doing much but I had already made a commitment to give a presentation and help out - as a native English speaker - at the Thursday night meeting of the Language Workshop... 

Wednesday Night

Murcia City Hall

I took a few speculative photos of the town hall before we grabbed an empanada and went on our way to El Ahorcado Feliz for the next meeting of the Language Workshop. 

Although really too dark to see any written documents easily, it provides a good relaxed atmosphere in which to talk with a small group of people around the table.

As one of two native English speakers, the other being Mike from Co. Cork in Ireland, my task for the night as a language co-ordinator was to encourage the discussion of topics such as television, sport and the cinema - which included such classics as Desayuno con Diamantes, Descalzos por el Parque and Casablanca.

The conversation digressed as the evening continued and, moving around the table, I had the opportunity to meet a wide variety of interesting people, answering questions on points of grammar and discussing general topics that included the merits of The New Town Hall, which has been placed at one end of the Plaza Cardinal Belluga, where the cathedral is situated.

As the night was coming to an end, and when most people had gone home, I began to feel ill. It had been a long day and when outside again in the cold, damp night - and had walked across the old town - I knew that something wasn't quite right...

Archena

Dolomite and Marl

Whenever I visit a new place, I like to see the art, architecture and archaeology, but the geology always seems to interest me most – and my trip to Archena was no exception.

A view from the museum

Picked up in the morning by Gloria, we sped out of Murcia and it wasn’t long before we encountered a dry, barren landscape where various commercial buildings were scattered around randomly.

Seeing a highly dissected landscape, with pale colours, I knew that we were passing through relatively young rocks but I didn’t know much more about the geology that I was looking at here, and so it was a great experience for me.

Arriving in Archena, I was very impressed by the geology that is quite clearly exposed here. The River Segura and its tributaries cut deeply into soft gypsiferous marls and, where the harder, overlying dolomites remain, there are some spectacular peaks. At the museum, I learned a great deal about the ancient history of this part of Spain, the importance of water to power its former industries, and the role that it played during the Spanish Civil war.

 The Balneario de Archena

Walking along the river towards the Balneario de Archena, the lush tropical looking vegetation in the river valley provided such a contrast to the landscape that I had seen on the way to Archena. 

Although unable to look around the spa itself, I was surprised to discover remains of the old Roman spa that have been recently excavated and which possess considerable archaeological importance in the region.

Bar Casino del Balneario de Archena

Archena has been described as being the ‘Oasis of Murcia’ and, with the temperature reaching 29 degrees that afternoon, I was glad to be in the leafy shade when we stopped at the Casino for a drink and tapas. 

With its giant outdoor chess board and a large family of feral cats, which came over to us as soon as the previous visitors to the garden had disappeared, it was really quite surreal. 

 

Having spent 4 nights and a couple of days talking with Mari Carmen, my Spanish had started to improve considerably but the real test of my progress came, very unexpectedly, when we were collected and taken to Gloria’s house, where we had lunch with her Spanish speaking family. 

Thrown in at the deep end, I happily discussed the food, the wine, their lemon grove, chickens and, especially, the mountains that we could see in the distance - and the giant oyster and other fine fossil specimens that Gloria had collected there. I left with a jar of homemade marmalade, which is the best that I have tasted, and looking out of the window of the bus on the way home, I noticed that the late afternoon temperature was still 29 degrees.

A panoramic view in Archena

The Casino

The Casino

I could easily have spent several hours here, taking photographs of the fine architectural details at different times of the day. With its library, billiards room, hall and dining room, amongst various other rooms constructed in different styles, I have since thought that I could have easily been participating in a game of Cluedo. 

Tuesday

A Cactus in Murcia

Waking up again on another bright sunny day, I had a couple of hours to go exploring by myself, so I took another long walk along the River Segura, before meeting Maria later in the day to wander around some more nooks and crannies in the old city of Murcia.

El Jardín del Malecón

The first place to see was El Jardín del Malecón, with its botanical gardens. Having already seen an enormous tree from the genus ficus and a giant cactus, I thought that I would see some spectacular plants in these gardens.

In winter, I am sure that I didn’t see the wide variety of species at their very best, being used to seeing various lush botanical gardens in England and Ireland, where everything looks so green all of the time, but it was good to be walking in the sunshine.

A view from El Museo Hidráulico.

Near to midday, I certainly felt the heat when walking around and, instead of heading off towards the railway station, I decided to pop into the Museo Hidráulico.

I was very interested in the old machinery, the grindstones and the art gallery space too – it reminded me of the museums that I know very well in Sheffield, where water was once used extensively to power the local industries. 

Having misunderstood the time to meet up with Maria, confusing 12.30 and 13.30 in Spanish, I had to cut short my planned exploration of the rest of the old city to see some more of the tourist attractions that Murcia has to offer. Many of the artefacts in the Museum of Archaeology interested me but, unfortunately, my Spanish wasn't good enough to properly understand the descriptions of the various exhibits 

The Museum of Archaeology