Around The World Without Flying: Cartagena, Spain

Cartagena overall was a most charming city, built right up to the magnificent harbour that is full of yachts and a few ships. Apparently ship-building is one of the industries here.

The city is surrounded with hills, where mining and extracting metals such as silver, zinc and lead has been carried out on and off for many centuries. It has not been occurring for a while though, which is fortunate in terms of everyone's health and the state of the buildings. Being so close, the smoke from the tall chimneys we saw from the ship would pollute the entire city in dark clouds of toxic, acidic gases and particulates.

The first thing we saw, however, when we left the ship was a tall sea wall around the city which had clearly been newly restored. We were informed that it was built in the 1700s at the instruction of the then Spanish king.

We also noticed that unlike the ubiquitous cobblestones one normally has to negotiate in Europe, the main street in Cartagena is paved with . . . not gold, but beautifully laid, attractive smooth tiles. It was so heavenly to see them and walk on them, after the usual bumpity bump - so hard on your feet, and so easy to trip on!

The other aspect of Cartagena that struck us, and was also pointed out by our guide, was the different architectural styles you see as you stroll along the main street. The old Town Hall, built in 1900, was made of stone and quite ornate. Its balconies were made of stone too, which made them very heavy. As it was built near the waterfront, the soils underneath contained sand and water, so the height of the building was very limited. This made it look rather out of proportion - a bit too short for a big dome on top.

Then there were buildings in the Modernist style, from about the 1920s I believe. These featured floral decorations and quite ornate wrought iron balconies, a style brought there from Paris by some of the wealthier families. They were most attractive. As well, there were fairly ordinary dark brick buildings from about the 1980s and a couple of really modern but plain-looking buildings that were of similar height to the others, but looked completely out of place.

A couple of stately old buildings were covered as they have been abandoned and were in a bad state of disrepair and would cost millions to restore. Often banks now own them.

As with most European cities there were outdoor cafes along the street. I had a lovely local speciality coffee at one. It was really good, and much-needed by then.

I believe the city also has a bullring and some lovely gardens with peacocks running around. What a shame we ran out of time.

Tomorrow we will be in Barcelona for two days. I am really looking forward that, though unlike in Cartagena, which was a very civilised, quiet place, we will have to watch out for pickpockets!