A big part of living in Spain is the ability to travel across Europe. Every available weekend we are trying to take a trip somewhere, even if it's only around the corner.
Yesterday we took a flier and looked for a twisty road into the mountains around us. We ended up climbing Carrascoy y El Valle in our little Nissan Micra. I should say we ended up climbing the mountain in our friends' Nissan Micra, which is even better. There wasn't a street per se; more like a road less traveled. Most of the way up, I had to drive in first gear, and that was almost not enough. On a few of the switchbacks, I had to back up and turn more sharply to get up to the next level. Then on the way down, I had to dodge, straddle or pass across big ruts in the road. After we finally got back onto a real road, we stopped at the nearest gas station restaurant and had a surprisingly good meal. I ate some kind of rabbit thing with garlic and potatoes. I think it's called Conejo al Salmorejo. There is no Spanish fast food. Other cultures have come in to try to fill that space, but the Spanish people are mostly resistant to the allure of poorly made, homogenized, fat-laden, chemically preserved, mass-processed food. They are so behind the times.
We had already planned a trip today to Cartagena with Julio and his family. Cartagena was founded around 227 BC, which makes it pretty old, even by Spanish standards. It has been an important port city for much of that time. Several different empires have left their marks--Roman, Goth, Visigoth, and a whole host of North African Muslim kingdoms.
Cartagena is only about 45 minutes away from La Alberca and is part of the region of Murcia. This is a touchy subject for the people of Cartagena, who want to be autonomous or else be the chief city in Murcia. They call Murcianos "barrigas verdes" or green bellies, because Murcia is an agricultural center. Murcianos call Cartageneros, "aladroques", which is basically a crapfish, due to their coastal locale.
We toured a few maritime museums. Julio was very proud of the "first submarine" in history, which was invented by a Spanish guy in the 1880's. I had to inform him that the CSS Hunley predated his country's submarine by twenty years. He was disabused but handled it well. The Spanish version did have a working torpedo, so that was significant.
After visiting the museums, we met up with some of Julio and Toñi's friends, who are from Cartagena. We are here to have a robust cultural exchange, so I am constantly looking for opportunities to engage in conversation with the natives. We walked into a bar to get something to eat, and I told Lola, their friend, that I really loved to eat fish. This made her really happy, since Cartagena is known for its seafood. I told her I especially liked "aladroques" and that I heard Cartagena was famous for them. She looked at me. Then she looked at Julio. Then she commenced to dog-cussin' both of us. I am not sure of every word spoken, but I am fairly certain most of them would not make it past a TV censor back in the States. That was fun. After she calmed down, we all had a big laugh. Cultural exchange. Check.
We also got to see a magnificent Roman amphitheater that is still used today. It seats about 6,000 people. I was having a good time imagining the Cartagena premier of Oedipus Rex or some other Greek tragedy. I got Julio to quote a little Cervantes, but he wouldn't belt it out like a Roman or Greek actor. Stage fright.
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