secretbeach

Discovering Cartagena

More Articles By Phillip Bruce www.raxomnium.com

Finding A Secret Beach

To be honest, the beaches around Cartagena, the La Manga strip and the Mar Menor, never really get crowded. By the standards of the tourist traps further north and south the beaches are usually relatively empty except in a few spots avoided by discerning visitors during August.

Puerto de Mazarrón, for example, has no less than 18 official beaches and many more in the coves to the south. There are dozens of beaches around the Mar Menor and the La Manga strip features two 22-kilometre long beaches with white powder sand, one on the Mediterranean side and one on the inland sea.

The port of Cartagena is protected by very steep cliffs and rocky headlands and this is what made it such an important place from a defensive point of view over its long history. Not surprisingly, there aren’t many beaches actually within the Cartagena limits, although there is some of Europe’s best diving to be found.

One little beach is a bit difficult to find but worth the effort. There can be few more dramatic places on the Mediterranean than El Portús hemmed in by craggy hills on one side and with sheer cliffs running away on the other. There were never any great settlements here as the landscape made access so difficult. Only in recent times was an access blasted through the rock to give access to the left-hand beach.

There are two beaches available to the public; the one of the left is Playa Morena or Playa Losa. We’re not sure which is the correct name as there seems to be a third beach inside the big nudist, sorry, naturist, camp that straggles up the hillside to the left and we’re not sure which name goes with which beach. This camp is said to be one of the biggest of its type in Europe. Anyway, if you head left on arriving at Portús, go downhill and you should turn right into the rambla, or dried up river bed, and follow it down to the gap in the rock that gives access to the beach.

If you turn right up at the top you will come down to the Playa Pescadores, or fishermen’s beach. This has a few houses scattered around with an ice cream stand and some chemical toilets in the summer. Neither of the beaches has bars or cafes, so pack a picnic and take your own drinks. Also, these are not official bathing beaches, so there are no lifeguards on duty. Remember that in summer there may well be jellyfish about, so be careful and take some cream or lotion in case you are unlucky. Just to make life even more exciting, the authorities are obviously worried about rock falls and you can see tough steel mesh fences on the cliffs.

From El Portús, you can see the Cabo Tiñoso headland in the distance over to the right. This is covered with forts and gun positions, including the giant 38cm Vickers guns that protected the approaches to Cartagena harbour. In fact, it is probable that for most of the past century or so access to Portús was not possible for the public as it would have been within a military area. Above the Fishermen’s’ Beach an old, boarded-up, building can be seen which was, in all probability, used by the military. There is also a tiny chapel which was built in 1925 and restored in the early 1990s with a figure of the Virgin, no doubt patron of the fishermen.

The name “Portús” may come from the Romans. Portús was the harbour town of imperial Rome. It was an artificial harbour built in the time of Claudius I, who was emperor from AD41 to 54, and who conquered much of Britain. The books “I Claudius” and “Claudius the God” are well worth reading and these were turned into an excellent television series several decades ago.

El Portús is reasonably well signposted. Drive out of Cartagena past Eroski and follow the CT 32 coast road towards Puerto de Mazarrón (do not take the N332). Come out of Canteras (noting the old Roman quarries in the hills to the right), look for the turn-off to El Portús and follow the road towards the sea.

The other beach worth visiting at Cartagena is Cortina Beach, which you will find by following the road that runs along the left hand side of the harbour and passes through a couple of tunnels. There is a good restaurant there, not surprisingly specializing in seafood and there are full beach facilities. The little cove is surrounded by the remains of forts and lookouts but few people sunning themselves and paddling care about that. Recently, a good coastal walkway has been installed which links Cortina beach with the city. Buses run there during the summer.

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Gary Smith Fishing