I didn’t have a set plan on which cities I wanted to visit in Spain and mostly made up my plan as I went along. However, I did have to reach Málaga by the 23rd of December, because the next morning I had to catch a flight to Brussels. I tried to spread out my trip so I could visit as many places as I could.

I came across Cartagena while searching for places to stay on Airbnb. After looking up its main attractions I found that the city had a Roman Theatre and a big port. That’s when I decided I had to visit this city. I left Valencia late morning around 10 AM.

This time I made my journey by bus, which took me around 5 hours. I departed from the Valencia bus terminal around 12 PM.

The journey was very pleasant and I managed to see many fantastic sights along the way. As I moved towards the south I noticed that the plantation was changing quite a bit. I came across this spectacular oasis of tropical palm trees towards the end of my journey and was amazed by their density. This town was called Elche.

The temperature was 21°C even during late November!

Although I couldn’t get a clear shot of this statue, it seemed very similar to the “Christ the Redeemer” statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

I reached Cartagena around 3 PM and exited through this circular bus station. I thought its design was very efficient.

My next goal was to find my Airbnb. Luckily this usually proved to be quite straightforward, as the house owner shared their exact location via Airbnb. As I made my way to the apartment I saw how different life was in the smaller cities of Spain. There were absolutely no crowds and the roads were mostly empty. I was still astonished at the amount of structural development here.

I entered the apartment which was located at the top floor, and was greeted by a wonderful elderly woman who greeted me very heartily and took me in her arms. She didn’t speak English, but we were able to communicate using Google Translate and hand gestures.

She showed me the room where I would be staying and gave me a pair of keys which read “Super Abuela”. “Abuela” means “Grandmother” in English; this was a gift from her grandchildren.

The couple lived alone in the apartment on the top floor. Her husband used to be a school teacher, but was now retired. He could not go out of the house because of health issues, so his wife did all of the shopping. I was taken back by their generous hospitality.

When I first arrived the elderly woman took me to the kitchen and started taking stuff out from the cupboard and the refrigerator. I ate some fruits and biscuits, but she told me I could take more if I wanted. I was impressed at how clean their house was.

After leaving my luggage I went out to explore the city. I left the house around half past 4 and still had some daylight left. I first went to the town centre which had some peculiarly large trees. This type of tree is quite common across India and Pakistan. When its branches touch the ground they get transformed into wood.

In the town centre there were children performing a play.

I also found this bizarre plant growing inside a glass wall.

I then set off to see the Roman Theatre and came along a narrow alley which had this strange looking wall. Unfortunately I couldn’t go inside the theatre as it had already closed down for the day. I did manage to go all the way to the top, where I could get a really nice view.

From the top I could see the port which had this very futuristic looking ship, and three other warships.

The city outskirts were easily visible from here.

There was some beautiful plantation and animals on the top.

I could view many historical sites in the city outskirts, some of which I would visit the next morning. This here was another Roman Theatre, but it was currently undergoing renovations.

In a far off mountain I could see a fort.

There was a beautiful garden on the top. which could be explored either by foot, or by road.

Atop the mountain there was a bust of Hasdrubal the Fair who was a military leader in this region around 250 BC.

This type of plant is also quite common in Pakistan. There was a lot to see in this part of the town, but it was now closed.

Before heading back I decided to walk around the city. I knew the sunset would look amazing at the port, so I first went there.

I next went to the urban side of the town. I was surprised to find some areas where there was little development (in terms of housing) and were not very clean.

As always I took picture of a telephone booth I came across. I also saw some Christmas lights in the city.

The next morning I went to a different part of town. I first visited some government buildings which had this nice-looking sculpture on the front.

There was a disturbing amount of pigeon dropping on this rooftop.

I walked around this place and came across a nice park.

I then visited the Polytechnic University of Cartagena. Even though Cartagena was a small town the university was quite big. I first visited the library and saw a collection of books on a staggering number of disciplines. Most of the book were in Spanish, but some were also in English.

This university seemed to invest heavily in IT, it seemed. The first room with was full of students working with Alienware laptops.

I found the architecture of the building very interesting. Imagine studying in this classroom!

There was also some really nice artwork which I presume was done by the students.

They also had a collection of old electronic equipment.

This hallway was quite unusual. If a person standing in the middle made a sound, it would echo and hit their ears instantly. I think some of these buildings were back from the Moorish period. I saw very similar architecture in Iran where it was used by the Qaazi to say the Azaan prayer.

After wandering around the campus, I went to a hilltop which I had noticed the previous day. It was opposite to the bus station.

The development did not seem to be uniform throughout the entire city.

This broken building looked really cool.

This marked the end of my trip to this beautiful small town. I was next travelling to another small town called Almería. This time I travelled using a BlaBlaCar, which turned out to be very fun.