Mangalan Cartagena

The day as finally arrived to begin our 6 month break, away from the damp, wet climate of Mid Wales. The plan is to drive from here to Portsmouth to catch the Pride of Bilbao ferry bound for Bilbao, a journey that takes about 36 hours. The only part to worry about is the crossing across the ...

We didn't have any plans for Cartagena. None of the excursions that HAL had planned sounded exciting and when we researched things to do in Cartagena, nothing looked appealing. So I went in search of plentiful cheap wine to stock up for the long ocean crossing to come (I hate paying the exorbitant prices for alcohol in bars and restaurants)&#8230; <br><br>So I found a supermercado in Cartagena with excellent prices and a good selection of wine. I ended up buying 9 ...

... after a few miles of cycling. Murcia basically has about 6 motorways going through it. Cant cycle on these. cant navigate because of our incredibly basic A3 map of spain. So we went and bought a beer. Then, a bit drunk (what!? it was hot and we were dehydrated from cycling) we aimlessly cycled around until we found a more detailed map behind some perspex glass, up a lamp post, at a bus stop. Probably shouldnt have taken it but desperate times.. . . . we are ...

... and order Churrioes which they found hard to understand what we were ordering cuz its pronounced differnt than how it is spelt.<br><br>Later that evening we cooked some we wedges on the BBQ then we had those which sausage and curry sauce!<br><br>Then we went to a spanish bar which was quite exspensive but it was all locals except for 2 other english people.<br><br><br><br>

... go to the puerto de mazzron for a few drinks. There was a land train which went from down by the beach by Bolnuevo beach! We waited for the train and waved it down however the driver shook his head and carried on driving we were waiting at the wrong spot :-(. <br><br>We decided to call a taxi and went in Monroes a english run bar by the beach. Our taxi driver picked us up and drove us ...

... still setting up there stands. <br><br>We walked through and they sold everything you could think of clothes, electrical equipment, CDs, DVDs fruit and veg etc. The smell of cooked chicken which was being sold made me very hungary. We decided to walk through the fruit and veg section and there was lots of older spanish women with there granny trollies lol. It was very packed walking through the fruit and veg section and you had to push your way through.<br><br>We found a food stool which ...

... all the locals seemed to be at this bar and no tourist except for me and Josh and this is exsacly what i wanted to go to the more spanish areas with the locals and not the tourist areas.<br><br>Then after a drink there i went for a swim in the sea and we walked back to the villa and swam in the swimming pool.<br><br>It was about 3pm and 39 degress now!! Then sat on the balcony read a book and walked down to the restaurant at 8pm to take my ...

One may think that with the trouble we had in getting here, we weren't meant to be here. There was a fire on another train aheadd of us, and we were delayed by 2 hours. Then our train was having problems and we had to transfer to another train. All in all we arrived in Murcia at 12:45am, 4 hours late, but very excited to see Javier, Carmen and still waiting to see the girls who got up and went to school while we still slept.

... Picturesque, clean and inviting, it made for a truly pleasant excursion off-ship. We didn't take any of the ship's shore excursions, instead opting to wander around the lovely town by ourselves. Since it was Sunday many of the shops were closed, but we still enjoyed walking through the streets and soaking up the atmosphere. We stopped for lunch at a little sidewalk cafe ...

... tomorrow. Dr. Pepper is too much to hope for. Speaking of old, the best t-shirt of the day was on an old guy who was walking like every step hurt (and it probably DID), and his t-shirt said, "OLD AS DIRT." I spent a lot of time on the balcony today, and there were some cool sites. I saw a submarine this morning-don't think I've ever seen one actually in the water before. And this afternoon we all watched sailing school. They had a ...