[caption id="attachment_44657" align="aligncenter" width="500"] SeaDream II sails into Cartagena harbor.[/caption]
-by MALCOLM ANDREWS
We can see the look of bewilderment that has already crept across your face. Cristóbal Colón? Who is he and why would he be so revered by the Spanish. The answer is simple. He is the famous explorer we know by his Italian name of Christopher Columbus. Remember the ditty from our schooldays? “In 1492 … Columbus sailed the ocean blue.”
In the first week of August we celebrated the anniversary of his setting sail on the first of his four voyages to ‘discover’ America. And, as happens each year, all those Spanish ports along the Atlantic and the Mediterranean use the day as excuse to party on long into the night, whether or not he had anything to do with the town or city in question.
Colón was a Genoese sailor of Spanish-Jewish extraction and is credited with driving a hard bargain to finance his adventures. For eight years he had been trying to persuade his patrons, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, to come to his aid. He wanted a knighthood, the hereditary ranks of Grand Admiral and Viceroy, and 10 percent of all income raised by the admiralty. It was a tidy sum as Spain had one of the greatest navies in the world and would regularly plunder foreign ports and ships of other nations.
At first Colón received a curt: “No!” But then the monarchs relented and he sailed off from the Atlantic port of Palos de la Frontera on August 3, 1492. He was actually looking for a new route to India – but central America got in his way and he found even greater riches that had envisaged.
[caption id="attachment_44658" align="aligncenter" width="375"] Statue of the explorer, Colón[/caption]
Although he never lived in Cartagena, the locals tell us he is important to the city because it is one of the most famous ports in the whole of Europe and home to the Spanish Navy since the 16th century. Today it is a Mecca for cruise vessels that ply the Mediterranean and SeaDream I and II regularly stop off for the passengers to soak up the unique ambience. And the SeaDreamers pose for ‘selfies’ with the wharf-side statue as a giant backdrop.
[caption id="attachment_44660" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Preparing for the May Day salute in Cartagena[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_44659" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Cartagena’s ancient Roman theatre[/caption]
MALCOLM ANDREWS is an Australian author and travel writer who has been a SeaDream devotee for the past decade.