Journaling:
None of the ship's excursions at Cartagena appealed to us and Bob and Norleen went to see the Spanish horses, so we decided we would just have a day on our own. There are several Roman ruins near enough to the port for walking, plus the Calle Mayor, the main street. The cruise port is immediately adjacent to the city so it was easy to walk off once we were cleared.

I thought I knew where we were going, as the Roman Theater is clearly marked on the map. What wasn't clear is that you can't get into it from the street; you need to enter through a museum, which is a couple blocks away. A super friendly young woman could see we were confused, and with the aid of Google Translate, she helped us get to the door.

The theater had been preserved because it was buried under layers of newer buildings. It wasn't until some new construction in 1988 that it was discovered that the cathedral had been built above it in the 13th century. In order to preserve the cathedral, the museum was built on the opposite side from the theater, and you enter via a basement beneath the cathedral. It is a very nice museum, with lots of explanation and items excavated from pre-Christian times. We spent a couple hours there.

Then we walked a few blocks away to the Casa de la Fortuna, a house from Roman times that once belonged to a wealthy family. They could tell what colors had been on the walls, and what each room was for, so they had pictures of what it may have looked like, and several artifacts shown.

We stopped by a restaurant in a city plaza for a sandwich; after that it was on to the main shopping area, a busy pedestrian area with lots of interesting buildings and shops. We followed it down to the port and were glad to be able to get on the ship to rest with a drink on the open deck..