"Why Cartagena ?" a Cartagena Travel Page by JLBG

Between the highly touristic provinces of Andalusia (Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada, Cadiz, Marbella, Malaga, etc…) and of Valencia (Valencia, Alicante, Elche, Benidorm […!], the province of Murcia is very quiet and neither Murcia nor Cartagena figure among the main touristic spots of Spain.

What about Cartagena ? If you are looking for a place where you will find mostly people like you, speaking your own language, don't go there but go to Benidorm for example. In Cartagena, you will meet spaniards, living spanish. It's up to you !

Cartagena, as you can guess, was created by the Carthaginian. It was founded by Asdrúbal Janto 223 b.c. and soon became a flourishing port, the chief Carthaginian base in Spain. Captured (209 b.c.) by Scipio Africanus Major, the city and the port continued to flourish under the Romans as Carthago Nova. It has been for centuries one of the main naval bases of Spain as it has a secure natural harbor, protected by forts, with a naval arsenal and important shipbuilding and metallurgical industries. It has been for the last hundred years an industrial town : lead, iron, and zinc are mined and processed nearby, but the rich silver mines exploited in ancient times by Carthaginians and Romans are now almost exhausted. It was a wealthy town and there remains luxurious mansions with typical bow-windows, not often found in Spain. In the past 20 years, a large part of the old insalubrious city center has been restored. It is now a very pleasant city to live in and to visit.