Epic Trip Part Six: Cartagena

On Saturday, October 29, a very fine tortoise made its way to our cabin. I was delighted. We were to encounter tortoises again during the Epic Trip, but I'm getting WAY ahead of myself!

We docked at Cartagena (kar-ta-HAY-na), Spain, and Himself went out on an excursion, while I wandered around in the town.

When we travel, we have a firm policy that neither of us should not do something we want because the other isn't interested; similarly, no one has to do something he or she doesn't want to do, simply to accommodate the other. This has worked well. A side benefit is that it gives us good subject matter for when we reconnect.

Cartagena was a nice enough town. You may have noticed that I have a propensity to take pictures of windows and French balconies (as well as flower boxes on the walls), and this port provided some nice specimens.

With Joe's being on an excursion, it was up to me to make a solo visit to the church.

Now might be a good time to talk about a somewhat irreverent commentary on churches. In Europe, we find that church steps were a preferred working location for people seeking alms. Makes sense. A couple of years ago, in Rome, we approached one of the few churches we hadn't seen before a church and Himself observed, "This must be a really important church. It has two beggars." And hence the concept of a one-beggar church was born.

Santo Domingo in Cartagena was a fine little one-beggar church. There was another church, a rare two-beggar one, further up the main road, but there was an entrance fee, and I demurred.

Soon after I returned to Star Flyer after my walkabout, Joe came back from his excursion, excited to report that very near to the dock was a place we needed to explore. Off we went.

The National Museum of Underwater Archaeology was not far at all and it was a wonderful place! All the while we were there, I thought of our daughter, who loves archaeology, and how she would like to visit this museum.

I confess that in my hurry to get to the museum before closing time, I left without my camera and these photographs are from the web.