Spain, Spain, Spain!

Those readers of this blog who lean to the nervous side may be relieved to know we are not going to Morocco, either. We were told today that in the last two days the ship has been informed by both the gov't of Morocco and an intelligence service based in the UK of threats of terrorist activity in the country, particularly in places visited by foreign tourists, so we're spending the last three days of the trip in Spain rather than North Africa. This is probably the right decision but it's very disappointing. These substitute stops pale in comparison to what we would have seen for three days in Algeria and in Morocco. <sigh>

So we visited Cartagena Spain today, which is interesting albeit limited. This is the place where the Carthagians, having been defeated in the first Punic War by the Romans, built a walled city from which Hannibal and his elephants set off through France and over the Alps to surprise the Romans from the north in the second Punic War, evening the score at one war apiece. (As we know, they lost the rubber match in a slaughter <literally> and Carthage was then no more.)

Above is a photograph of the ruins of the exterior Punic wall that was built to surround and protect the city, ca. 200 BCE. The wall consisted of two walls linked together by rooms where they stored munitions and stabled their horses. I'm not sure where the elephants were kept.

Also nearby was a massive crypt where they buried their dead.

 

Debb and I sought out a cafe afterwards and enjoyed an Asiatico coffee, which is an espresso with a locally-made orange liqueur plus cream and sugar. Quite tasty.

And we ran into members of our ship's crew enjoying libations as well. Hmmmmm......

 

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