Mediterranean Cruise (Oceania) 2023

Cartagena Wednesday, April 26 Cartagena is a Spanish city and a major naval station on the Mediterranean coast, south-eastern Iberia. Cartagena has been inhabited for over two millennia, being founded around 227 BC by the Carthaginian Hasdrubal the Fair as Qart Hadasht (Phoenician: ; meaning "New Town"), the same name as the original city of Carthage. The city had its heyday during the Roman Empire, when it was known as Carthago Nova (the New Carthage) and Carthago Spartaria, capital of the province of Carthaginensis. So on top of having multilayers of history and inhabitants, it literally has layers of building one on top of another. The first picture are of the wall of the city built in 220BC from Carthaginian days. Cartegena Town Hall Plaza (Town Hall is the white building to the right) looking out towards the ship off to the far back right. Espacio Mediterráneo shopping centre with beautiful stone walkways    I really liked the various patterns created in the plaster on t...

 Monday April 24 and Tuesday, April 25 Finished our flight from Newark to Barcelona.  United Airlines started one and half hours late from Newark for some non-understandable reasons, but we got to Barcelona safely so that was the important part.  Got a quick bus tour around Barcelona and since we had been here it was a nice memory adventure but definitely would not impress if you had not visited before.    Got a great night of sleep on the Oceania Riviera so that Monday morning when we arrived in Alicante, Spain we were ready to walk around and give ourselves a self guided tour.  Some of our favorite spots were found accidentally.  Starting out we found the much talked about  promenade  Explanada de España , lined by palm trees, which is paved with 6.5 million marble floor tiles creating a wavy pattern, and is one of the most lovely promenades in Spain.  In these pictures the walk looks like it would be very difficult to walk but the sur...

 April 23, 2023 Beginning the Journey Packing late Saturday night for an early take off on Sunday, the 23rd, from the San Diego airport to Newark, NJ and then on to Barcelona, Spain.  We have a little bit of time and may explore Barcelona, but will wait and see how we feel from the long day of travel. It is Sunday,  you know...gotta have our donut and coffee...even though we didn't walk to get them