Cartagena

Cartagena's site on a deep natural harbour was exploited from prehistoric times. The Carthaginian general Hasdrubal founded or rebuilt the city around 228 BCE as Qart Hadasht (New City, parallel to Carthage in North Africa). Under the Barcid dynasty of Carthage it became the most important city in Spain — Hannibal mustered his forces here before his crossing of the Alps.

Rome captured it in 209 BCE (the Second Punic War) and renamed it Carthago Nova; it became the most important Roman port in the western Mediterranean, the main export terminal for the silver and lead mines of the Sierra Minera. After the fall of Rome, Cartagena was taken by the Byzantines (589 CE) and became the capital of their Spanish province. The Visigoths destroyed much of the city around 621.

It recovered somewhat under Moorish rule and was reconquered by Castile in 1245. The modern city retains important 18th-century naval heritage alongside the ancient layers.

The Roman Theatre of Cartagena, discovered in 1988 during demolition for a new building, is one of the most spectacular archaeological finds in Spain — a 1st-century BCE theatre seating 6,000, buried under medieval and modern buildings, now excavated and converted into an extraordinary museum where the visitor descends through the layers of history. The ARQUA (National Museum of Underwater Archaeology) on the waterfront has astonishing Punic, Roman, and later shipwrecks recovered from the Mediterranean. The Punic Walls Museum displays substantial sections of Carthaginian defensive works.

The Castillo de la Concepción hill, the original fortified site, offers panoramic views and a small museum. The 18th-century Art Nouveau (Modernista) buildings of the Ensanche quarter — a local architectural tradition parallel to Barcelona's — are distinctive and worth exploring.

Cartagena has a train station with connections to Murcia (1 hour) and Madrid. By car, 50 km from Murcia on the AP-7. The Roman theatre and archaeological museum are in the compact old town and easily reached on foot from the harbour.

Allow a full day for the principal sites. The ARQUA and Roman theatre require separate tickets. The city has good seafood restaurants in the port area.