Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Friday, February 24, 2017
Cartagena – Sailing the Costa de Blanco of Spain
October 9 - 10, 2012
The Mediterranean Sea was living up to its reputation of either having too much wind or not enough to sail so on Tuesday we were up nice and early to head further along the coast to Cartagena, unfortunately utilising the motor again. A bonus of rising early was a spectacular sunrise over the lighthouse on Cabo del Palos that produced a constantly moving tableau of colour over about 30 minutes. Very nice, but somehow lost on Karen and Marc who would much rather have stayed in bed and just seen Rob’s photos later.
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| Some sunrises evolve through many stages. This one at Cabo del Palos did. |
We had a fairly uneventful slog against a reasonable sized swell along the coast but did pass a massive fish farming set up in one of the bays that provided some interest.
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| This bay was packed with pens full of tuna being farmed |
The large natural harbour of Cartagena has been a big attraction to civilisations dating back thousands of years and has seen battles for control of this strategic site rage through the millennia. It was a major centre of Hannibal’s Carthagean Empire and the Romans later built a major trading port and town on the site. Like most of the Spanish Mediterranean coast, Cartagena was controlled at different times back and forwards by the Moors and Christians. As recently as the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, the Republican loyal port was the target of a massive bombing campaign by Franco’s allies, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
It is now Spain’s major Naval port in the Mediterranean and we followed a large war ship into the harbour being very careful to stay out of its way. Anchoring is not permitted anywhere in the entire bay so we had no choice but to moor in one of the port’s two marinas. Having visited here on Moksha back in April we were familiar with Real Club de Regattas and had phoned ahead to make our booking. As we entered the harbour proper we radioed on Channel 9 to get directions on where we were to tie up and were instantly answered by the opposition marina Moor directing us further into the bay to their establishment. We said thanks for the directions, picked up the mobile and phoned ‘our’ marina who apologised and said they’d been trying to reply via VHF but the opposition had got on the transmit button faster. Competition for clients must be tough here. At just under 40 Euros ($49) a night for our 43 footer we wouldn't call it cheap but it is a lot better than the 153 ($190) we'd paid for a hell hole marina at San Antonio on Ibisa.
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| Alcheringa moored in the centre on the town wall at Cartagena |
We were directed in and soon found ourselves tied up against the actual town wall in almost the identical spot we had been with Moksha back in April. As when we were with Moksha, Karen headed off to the Laundromat with piles of washing while the boys got stuck into making the most of unlimited fresh water with a major bow to stern clean up job on the boat. Rob even took each of the fenders off one by one and gave them a big scrub up just as he had done six months ago. We were left with a very spic and span boat attracting plenty of admiring glances from tourists and locals alike as they promenaded past. It did all feel a little ground hog dayish and brought back memories of our departure as crew on the big Shipman 72 and the start of our path to buying Alcheringa.
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| We should charge photographic fees Alcheringa is used as a backdrop so often |
Wednesday was dedicated to being a tourist day as we did a museum crawl starting with an excellent Spanish Civil War museum located in an air raid bunker that had been excavated into the solid rock behind the harbour. It contained the usual historic artefacts but also had a range of excellent audio visual presentations with ordinary people who had lived through the intense bombing the town was subjected to telling their stories of how they had got on with their lives during the conflict.
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| Cartagena's civil war museum is located in an original underground bunker |
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| The Spanish are all style even during a civil war |
One old timer told the tale of the city’s most effective defence from the early night raids that marked the start of the aerial assault. A massive grid of lights was set up in empty fields just outside the town and when the bombers were on their way the power to the town was cut off and all the lights in the field illuminated. Night after night the fascists bombed an empty field. Unfortunately in the face of no opposing aircraft and very ineffectual anti-aircraft fire they soon switched to extremely destructive daylight raids. It was the very first aerial campaign in history directed at a civilian population and cost many, many lives.
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| The old bull ring is one civil war victim not yet brought to back to life. |
From there we went to the top of the hill overlooking the harbour and the La Conception Castle. Here the city has made the most of the remains of a castle that dates back to the Moorish era with a museum that takes visitors through the complete history of Cartagena in a mix of the original structure and integrated new build. The views from the top are extremely impressive and well worth the visit alone.
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| Great view of Cartagena harbour from La Conception Castle |
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| Now that's a serious mast on the boat in drydock |
Next we descended into the main town centre and took in the Roman era museum and linked Roman Theatre. Here visitors enter opposite the stunning town hall building and make their way through a series of display rooms spread over a number of levels and emerge through a tunnel into the Roman amphitheatre itself. It is extremely well done and one of the most impressive attractions we have visited in Spain, probably only topped by the amazing Alhambra in Grenada.
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| Cartagena's Roman Theatre is an excellent museum experience |
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| The Roman Theatre as it is today |
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| As it was. The seats closest were for the political powers and wealthy, next were the citizens, with slaves and visitors behind. Women were restricted to standing room only right up the back. Karen was not impressed. |
We’d had a very full, very interesting, and very enjoyable culture filled day. Cartagena did a marvellous job of rebuilding with soul after the carnage of the civil war and is now working extremely smart and hard to position itself well as a major heritage tourist destination set far apart from the usual, ugly high rise slums of much of the Costa del Blanco and Costa del Sol.
However, there’s only so much culture a body can take so rather than the excellent regional fare offered at many wonderful Cartagena restaurants that we’d enjoyed the previous night, this evening we dined in style at a fantastic Hot Dog stand in the old town. The deluxe deal even came with a beer along with the best, and only, hot dogs we’ve eaten in all of Spain.
We loved Cartagena.
For more about our travels check out and 'like' our Dreamtime Sail facebook page at
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Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Almerima Marina – Sailing the Costa de Sol of Spain
October 16 - 22, 2012
Westwood ho, ever westwood. With a constant eye on the weather, Tuesday morning saw us again moving on. We still had plenty of time up our sleeves before we were due to take up winter residence at the Queensway Quay Marina in Gibraltar, but the forecasts showed there were a few days of high winds with some rain coming so we were off across the large bay and around the next cape to a large marina at Almerimar. We’d had plenty of people recommend it to us as being very big, well equipped and very cheap so it sounded the perfect spot for us to sit out a blow for a few days. The marina’s reputation was confirmed when Rob rang to make a booking and was told that no reservation was needed and to just radio them on approach. Not wanting any surprises when we went to pay he then asked what it would cost for our 13.2 metre boat. ‘Not much. Wait I see. …. Between 11 and 12 Euro’, came the reply. That’s less than $14.60 a night so we were liking this place already.
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| The harbour pilot jumping off one of the ferries as we left Almeria |
We had very little wind in the early part of the day so after avoiding the big ferries making their way in and out of Almeria, we motored for a couple of hours first up. This part of the Spanish Coast has a flat plain squeezed between the sea and high ranges behind on which a very large proportion of Europe’s fresh food is grown in massive green houses that dominate the landscape. Not a view that is particularly inspiring, particularly when you’re chugging past with the canvas furled.
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| You name it, they grow it all in huge greenhouses |
We did get a bit of a sail in the late morning and into the early afternoon before the wind again fell away. We had earlier discussed hauling out the cruising chute but considering the short distance we had to go and the wind being forecast to die anyway, Marc put it best, 'Couldn't be arsed'. We hate motoring and, unless we’re pushed for time to reach a port in daylight, we try to sail regardless. However, Rob has written Rule 1.99 into the Alcheringa operating manual which reads, ‘Whilst the craft shall be propelled by use of sails in all possible instances, the motor shall be engaged instantly the boat speed falls to a figure of 1.99 knots or less’. Most cruisers seem to draw the line at around 4 knots so we’ll have to see how long this one lasts before being amended upwards.
Our progress may have been slow but we had plenty of daylight up our sleeve and we made it to less than two miles from the breakwater at Almeria when Rule 1.99 finally kicked in. We were told told over the radio to tie up at the fuel dock beside the control tower to do check in procedures. This is similar to checking into a hotel but you also MUST provide a copy of the boat's registration and insurance certificate. No insurance, no berth. As we approached with fenders out and lines ready they waved us off and directed us straight to our berth which turned out to be deep down the long central spine between rows of condominiums. It turned out the office was about to close for siesta so they didn’t want to bother with us until after four when they came back. So much for the insurance certificate or no berth. This is Spain.
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| We were moored well down in the centre of things with plenty of protection |
Over the ensuing week we quite enjoyed our Almerima experience. The marina facilities were quite good, although the showers could have definitely been hotter. Our berth was about as protected from any nasty weather as you could get and, as we discovered when we went exploring, only metres from cafes, bars, boutiques, laundromat, bakery, and what we found to be the cheapest supermarket we’ve come across in Europe. Also within the complex are two chandlery shops (including one run by Brits so no language issues), a sail maker, and well equipped, well priced boat yard. There were many, many boats here that had been winterised and left till next season but there was also a reasonable number of people staying onboard for the winter and expat Brits living in apartments. There are even quite nice beaches either side of the marina and a huge golf complex very close by.
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| Almerima is so well protected it's hard to tell the wind is blowing 20+ knots |
The cheap prices encouraged us to sample a number of the food establishments around the marina but we soon found a favourite. Mario’s Sports Bar had friendly Spanish staff with good English, excellent free WIFI complete with power points beside some of the tables to keep our devices charged, PLUS free tapas with every drink. The range and size of the tapas was incredible, not to mention the quality. Mario’s quickly became our Almerima local where we’d set ourselves up with laptop and IPads and keep up with the world. Staying still for a week meant Rob made some serious inroads on the blog and was uploading a chapter almost every day. By the time we had three or four wines, well priced at a couple of Euros each and gorged ourselves on Mario’s tapas we usually didn’t need dinner. (OK some days we might have had five or six.)
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| Marc and Karen about to sample more of the best Tapas in all of Almerima |
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| One pint of beer, one vino blanco, one vino rosso three free tapas = 6 Euros Chicken piece, spicy meatballs and outstanding curried beef = Yum! |
The Almerima complex is a fairly large however the majority of the apartments were empty and a large number had clearly never been occupied. It had obviously been developed during Spain’s huge construction boom that went way over the top. With supply outstripping demand by something like ten to one long before the GFC, when the crunch came everything stopped and prices tumbled. We saw a real estate agent’s banner on one balcony advertising the two bedroom, corner apartment as a repossession now available for 39,000 Euro ($47,700). Locals told us that you could do better than that by dealing directly with the banks. They have so many repossessed properties on their books they’ll take any offer that is close to what is owing. For some apartment that figure can be way above the now depressed current market but we were assured there were many absolute bargains around. It was far from good news for those expat Brits here that had bought near the top of the market as a few bemoaned to us. It probably explains why some of the expats that were clearly very regular regulars in the Brit bars around the marina were far from barrels of joy and in Australia would have qualified for the ‘Whingeing Pom’ tag. It was also one of the reasons why we preferred Mario’s.
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| Not one of these appartments at Almerima was occupied. |
As nice as the marina is, it’s built on a piece of coast with very little around it. We did actually consider changing our plans and staying here for the winter break but despite Gibraltar being a slightly more expensive marina we felt there would be much more to do there to keep us occupied through our long layup. Four months is a long time and we may well go stir crazy in Almerima.
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| Almerima sunrise from Alcheringa's bow |
So when the weather settled down from the howling westerlies that had been blowing we knew it would be time to move on. We weren’t going to miss the opportunity to take advantage of the cheap supermarket though and filled just about every inch of storage space we have. We got a few funny looks when we turned up at the checkout with three overflowing trolleys, especially when we’d been through with two loaded to the top half an hour earlier.
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| Unloading trolley loads 3, 4 and 5. The first two are already aboard |
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| Then you have to find somewhere to put it all |
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