Cartagena

As soon as we had sorted out BV in her berth, Nicky went up to the RCRC office to pay and to speak to the lady there about local sailmakers. Disappointingly, she was told that in Spain the 2 weeks following Assumption Day (15 August) are usually taken as a summer holiday and that this trend is particularly noticeable in the marine industry in Andalucía.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. We emailed the local UK Sails sailmaker (based in Torremolinos) as well as a couple of other firms. We had no quick replies but then found a number for the UK Sails agent in Gibraltar and rang him. Dave was in England but he got in contact with the sailmaker, Andy, and we agreed to route to Gibraltar via Benalmádena Marina, which is just outside Torremolinos, to allow him to take some measurements and provide us with a quote. A little later in the day we also heard from SailSelect, based in Alicante. Both companies said that our requirement (a new mainsail, delivered to us in Gibraltar, by mid-September) would be tight on time, as the sail fabric cutting companies would not get back off summer leave until the end of the month, but do-able. [Ed: the normal lead-time for a new mainsail is around 4-6 weeks so we were delighted to hear this, particularly given the Spanish summer holiday]. As a fallback, the lady in the RCRC office found a local sailmaker who would come out to us that evening. In the end, he said that he would be unable to help us while we were in Cartagena but he gave us the details of his agent in Gibraltar.

We had planned to go out for tapas that evening but with the local sailmaker coming at around 2030, we decided instead to take a ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’ walk out in the sun in the late afternoon. Partly, this was because we needed some more line for the new lazyjacks and partly because we wanted to have a wander around enjoying the sights.

Line purchased, we walked to the top of the hill on which stands the Castillo de la Concepción. The views from the top over the harbour and the city are great.

Better still is the view over the recently excavated Roman theatre. Walking down the hill from the castle you can also get a closer view of the theatre from the top of the walls around it. Last time we visited Cartagena we had a bit more time and did some proper sightseeing [Here’s a Link to when we were last here in April 2014].

The main commercial centre of Cartagena also boasts some pretty impressive architecture. The tourist information office is housed in the building in the left-hand picture above.

The main shopping streets are similarly very attractive and it was nice to wander around but the whole place did seem quiet and a lot of shops and restaurants looked to be closed and so we suspect that a lot of the locals are away on holiday, just like the sailmakers.

The following day, Friday 18 August, we sent some more measurements and photos to the sailmakers who would be quoting for our new mainsail and then spent much of the rest of the morning doing chores – laundry, shopping and fitting the replacement lazyjack lines. After all that a swim was definitely the order of the day and, happily, the RCRC has an outdoor swimming pool in which we could plough up and down in the short interval that it was mostly empty of small children (all eating lunch).

The Roman forum dating from 1^st century BC   

Come the evening we took another stroll around the town, this time coming across the 1^st century BC Roman forum.

Tapas bars.  La Fueve (bottom right and top centre); La Uva Jumillana (left and top right)

And then it was time for tapas, so we headed for a couple of tapas bars that had been recommended by the helpful lady at the RCRC – La Fueve and La Uva Jumillana.

Tapas. La Fueve’s tapas (left) pan tosta with grilled peppers, cheese and anchovy and pan tosta with salmon paste, anchovy and cherry tomato; (bottom right) anchovy pizza and empanada gallagna.  La Uva’s tapas (top centre) chicken empanadillas and (top right) croquettes with tuna and cheese

La Fueve specialises in anchovy-based tapas and La Uva provides more fried tapas. We tried a couple of varieties at each bar and decided that La Fueve’s tapas selection is probably fractionally healthier than the selection at La Uva Jumillana….. but that all the ones we tried were very tasty. And we particularly liked the copper sculptures in La Fueve.

On the way back to BV we saw this prayer written on a café window: “Lord give me coffee to change the things that I can and wine to accept the things I can’t.” Seems about right really!

So, after a couple of productive days whilst there was little forecast wind between Cartagena and Gibraltar, we got BV ready for what was to have been her final passage in the Mediterranean for some time – the trip from Cartagena to Gibraltar. However, with the change of plan with regards replacing the mainsail, the destination was now Torremolinos. Happily, the forecast was still showing a predicted 15-20knots from the northeast and east so it looked likely that we wouldn’t have to motor the whole way. It would be another early start though!

Cartagena, Spain