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The Best Musician in the world! Maybe third.

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We will spend most the day walking down one of those roads with tree cover and cycle paths to guide us out of town - but first, a 2023/2008 Candlemas Bun. Time for a bit of a diversion. Cartagena has many favoured children and Sebastian Raval is one.   He served in the Army of Flanders in Flanders, unsurprisingly, and Sicily. Raval joined the order of St. John of Jerusalem after being wounded in the siege of Maastricht.  He moved to Italy where he served as a musician in the court of Francesco Maria II della Rovere in Urbino, of the viceroy of Sicily, Bernardino de Cárdenas, and of the cardinals Peretti and Colonna in Rome. In Rome, he declared himself the "best musician in the world", on account of which he was challenged to a musical contest first by Giovanni Maria Nanino and shortly afterwards by Francesco Soriano. Raval was defeated in both cases. On 28th April 1595 he succeeded Luis Ruiz as the last Spanish maestro di cappella of the viceroyal chapel of the Spanish ...
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Scoundrels, tact and reasonable prices

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  Yesterday seemed a good idea at the time. We now need to retrace our steps and potter down the Ctra. Algameca and into the suburbs. Rarely do we come across a one star place but Gesedy building design have achieved this. Sonia suggested they were not what they should be and began her review ‘They are scoundrels’ Nearby is ‘El Estudio de Felipe - Fotografía Infantil en Cartagena.’  The idea of going to a photographer was one that suddenly happened when we visited family in the 90s. I suppose the arrival of cheap camera and film developmenting came more quickly to Blighty.  Maybe we had less events that required photos.  I have a couple of photos of mum which had been taken at a studio and then turned into postcards. Well, the is a female owned LGBTQ+ friendly place with a website. https://elestudiodefelipe.com/   ‘ The place gets 4.7 stars from 67 reviews. Two months ago Carolina said ‘My daughters have been going there all their lives and it's a great place fo...
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A little piece of Turkey but no Christmas

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  This is one of those, well, it was a good idea at the time. We are going up private roads, but Google suggests we can, so let's do it. We are climbing up to the Castillo de Galeras. It has views of the bay which will make it all worthwhile.  It is also one of those forts made with maths in mind and lots of angles and overlapping fire.  Before we get that we pass the ‘Subida’ or entrance. There are 267 reviews.  People rave about the view.  What about the military architecture to come guys? Frederico gives it four stars and says ‘A spectacular route to do with the family. The downside is the litter along the sides of the path and especially the condition of the parking lot next to the dry riverbed; if you go in a regular car, you'll damage the undercarriage in the potholes.’ At the castle top Petr is still on functional walking over form.  ‘The walk up to the fortress is a bit over 3 kilometers. The path is a solid road, so it’s manageable, but it’s quite ...
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It smells of History

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  Doubling back we are going along the front.  Well, the front of some very high walls - which keep us away from the Puerto de Cartagena. On the corner is the Museo Naval de Cartagena.  https://www.fundacionmuseonaval.com/museonavalcartagena.html   It closes Sundays and Mondays but is open from 9am till 2pm most days.  People seem to like the place.  It gets 4.6 stars from almost 3750 reviews. A week ago Villa wrote Well, let's see… I absolutely loved the Naval Museum of Cartagena. From the moment you walk in, it smells of history (and not the boring kind), but the good kind, full of ships, sailors, and things that make you say "wow." The building itself is imposing, like something out of a movie, and inside everything is very well maintained, clean, and with those display cases that make you want to keep your hands off them… but you do a little. The best thing, without a doubt, is the Peral submarine, which is gigantic and looks like it came from the futur...
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It’s got a fantastic pirate atmosphere of long voyages

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  Cartagena is one of those places that exists because geography demands it. If you are going to have a squarish country then having a naval base in one corner seems to be a jolly good idea.   The Carthaginians thought so and so did Charles III. In 1731 the construction of a naval base was begun It was completed in 1782, proving, if nothing else, time moves at a different speed when public construction projects are concerned.  This did not stop 21 ships of the line, 17 frigates and 50 smaller vessels being built in the later half of the eighteenth century. In 1849 the base was enlarged and a dry dock was added in 1866. 1889 saw the wonders of electricity added to the whole scheme and in 1918 a submarine dock was added.  During the Civil War it was the chief base of the Republican Navy and was one of the last places to surrender to the Fasc. We will wander through outer Cartagena.  220,000 people currently dwell here and the mayor, Ana Belén Castejón Hernández i...
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