💥Cartagena 

From Roman history, a beautiful city centre with marble streets and art nouveau buildings, modernist architecture, amazing food and sites you won’t see in Andalucia, Barcelona or or the rest of Spain. Cartagena is one of the fabulous hidden gems of Europe that you should make an effort to visit.🤩

Spain has many famous landmarks and Cartagena is very much off the beaten path but well worth a visit. 

Let’s explore the best things to do in Cartagena:

There are so many things to do in Cartagena Spain from historic Roman and Carthaginian sites to feasts fit for foodies. There are marble streets and brilliant shopping. The heartstopping elevator to the top of the Castillo, boat rides and so many more activities.

📍 Roman Theatre Museum Of all the marvellous Roman landmarks in Cartagena, the 2,000 year-old theatre should be your first port of call. It was discovered as recently as 1988 beneath the ruins of the Old Cathedral, which had been destroyed during shelling in the Spanish Civil War. About two thirds of the theatre’s building material was still on site, which made possible the very detailed restoration you can see now.

📍 The old town The old town of Cartagena is one of the richest, and full of character places in the city. It was constructed in 223BC, and was Hannibal´s  capital city on the Iberian Peninsula, making it an area with plenty of historical monuments, squares, and buildings for you to discover! It’s an amazing example of the beauty of Andalusian architecture, built within grotesque, little streets, lively tapas bars, and the overall Spanish atmosphere and chatter!

📍 Modernist Architecture In the late-1800s the mining industry made a handful of people very rich, and the most obvious expression of this wealth can be seen in the historic centre of Cartagena and nearby La Unión. Cartagena’s centre already needed rebuilding in the late-19th century, after a federalist insurrection in 1874 wiped out half the city. So towards the end of the century some gorgeous art nouveau buildings went up. You could fit the best ones into a walking tour and they include the Palacio Pedreño, the Casino de Cartagena, the Casa Cervantes, the Palacio de Aguirre and the Gran Hotel.

📍 Palacio Consistoria  You can enter one of Cartagena’s most impressive modernist wonders, the 100 year-old town hall on Plaza del Ayuntamiento. Take a few minutes to study the facade, composed entirely of white marble and topped with domes that are coated with local zinc. Get closer and you’ll even see a few bullet holes from the Civil War. There are English-speaking guided tours, showing you around the marble balustraded stairways and an exhibit of period tapestries.

📍 Calle Mayor Linking the Plaza de San Sebastián in the north with Cartagena’s town hall is a ravine-like pedestrian street paved with distinctive blue marble tiles. It’s a typically Spanish “Paseo”, where families and couples will take a stroll together or meet friends. The street is kept spotlessly clean and boasts many of Cartagena’s best modernist buildings. By day you can drop by for a cup of coffee or some high-street shopping, and in the evening you’ll be tempted by the various restaurants and tapas bars in this handsome location.

📍 Castillo de la Concepcion Cartagena had long been in decline by the time the Moors arrived in Spain. And for centuries it was believed that they hadn’t made their mark on the city at all, but excavation of the walls of this fortress in Parque Torres have shown that it was an Alcazaba, an Islamic fortified palace in the middle ages. Long before that it had been a Roman temple to Asklepio, and the cisterns from that time are still intact. Most of what remains now is from the 13th century, following the Christian “re-conquest”, with small pointers to this period visible in the carvings of eagles and rosettes.

Catch the lift to the top for supreme panoramas of the harbour and coastal mountains.

💥Pink Lake

The Pink Lake, it is the largest salt pans in Europe and its lagoons produce the prized "Flor de Sal". Can you imagine seeing huge mountains of snow and only after understanding that it is salt? And walking around a pink lake, maybe having the luck to see some flamingos too? In this fantastic destination, you can try all these experiences 🦩💕

THINGS INCLUDED

• Private bus Valencia - Cartagena - Pink Lake - Valencia
• Soy Erasmus Team 

THINGS NOT INCLUDED

• Everything not mentioned in included
• Museo del Teatro Romano (optional): 5€ for students (working hours: 10:00 - 14:00)
• Boat tour (optional): 5€ for students (11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00, 16:30, 17:30)
• Castillo de la conception (optional): 3€ for students/ 3,50€ for students (Entrada reducida Castillo de la Concepción + Ascensor Panorámico)
• Palacio Consistoria: 1€

TIPS (THINGS TO BRING FOR THE TRIP)

• Comfortable shoes and clothes👟👕
• Snacks🍎🍪🧁
• Camera and your phone to capture these wonderful memories📸
• Your friends👫
• A good mood🤩

SCHEDULE

• 8 Departure at Mestalla Stadium 
• 11:30 Arrival in Cartagena 
• 17:00 Departure from Cartagena
• 17:45 Arrival at Pink Lake (Torrevieja)
• 18:20 Departure from Pink Lake 
• 21:30 Arrival in Valencia