Cartagena, Spain

Dec 8/23

We have arrived on smooth seas to sunny Spain.

Since this was a last-minute port change, we had not done any research on what to do here. Thankfully, our friend Brooklyn lived here for a few months recently, and she told us where to go for good pastry and good coffee.

The streets are composed of smooth stone, so it was a lovely walk to a bakery called Kuss where we enjoyed yummy pastries.

Peanut tart and some kind of flaky pastry filled with cream

The streets are lined with orange trees.

Our next destination was CafeLab, a nerdy coffee shop. They serve drinks in beakers among other cups.

Today we felt like real Europeans. I have noticed that they smell very good, as many wear perfumes and colognes. We stopped in a perfume store and the staff member sprayed each of us with an abundant amount. We smell good!

Also, we had a grumpy gelato server yell at us when I asked for a sample because we couldn’t read the Spanish sign behind his back that said “no tasting”. We asked him what flavour Castana was, and he started yelling that castana is castana and everybody knows what that is (evidently chestnut). I half expected him to spit in my gelato before he gave it to me. It reminded me of a Seinfeld episode. The gelato tasted good, by the way.

There was a wedding at the local church which caused a traffic jam as the bride was trying to get out of the beautifully decorated Bentley car. I wondered why there were roses on the pews when I peeked in earlier this morning.

The pipe organist was playing Mendelssohn’s Wedding March and the music sounded spectacular as it spilled out into the street packed with shoppers and walkers and dogs.

We continued walking even though I was longing to slip into the church and watch the ceremony. There are many archeological findings that are free to walk through.