Discovering Cartagena

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Roman Villa At Puerto de Mazarrón 

Jut above a beach at Puerto de Mazarrón popular with swimmers and sunbathers in summer and with beach fishermen in the cooler months the remains of a Roman villa are now on display. 

The port, to the west of Cartagena, was important in Roman times and one of its principal exports was a fermented sauce made from the guts of fish known as garum.  This was very smelly but Roman cooks and gourmets were mad about it.  Apparently, a small teaspoonful would bring the fish taste of the Mediterranean to hapless Roman soldiers shivering on Hadrian’s Wall or in the gloomy forests of Germany. 

The villa can be found on the left side of the road driving into Puerto de Mazarrón from the roundabout on the beach which features a large fishing boat in its centre.  The area is known as El Alamillo. 

The villa is thought to date from the first to second century A.D. and it is part of an area that contains several Roman sites.  Higher up there is another, older, site which includes a small shrine but which is not yet open to visitors.   

The villa by the side of the road must have been a splendid place in its heyday.  Everyone loves sea views but today developers are covering all the surrounding area with masses of housing that will form a concrete mass behind the beaches of the area.  The Roman villa owners of the villa lived in a much less crowded time. 

There are paths around the remains of the rooms.  The stone pits in which the cooks and servants of the owners made the household’s own garum are much in evidence. 

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Gary Smith Fishing