# Cartagena



## Mojo Feratu (Sep 26, 2011)

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice on Cartagena and the surrounding area. There are several bilingual schools in the the area as part of the british council project, and I am considering visiting the area as I think this would be a good way of introducing my 8 yr old to the language without having to throw him in at the deep end.

We are in the process of learning Spanish now so hopefully it won't be to much of a shock when we get there next year.

So any advice on the area in general and if known detail of any of the bilingual schools would gratefully received.

Is it a nice area to live? Should be on my visit list before making a decision where to live?


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## DebMer (Dec 31, 2011)

Hi Mojo Feratu, 

I lived in Cartagena for about a year and a half in the early nineties. I can't tell you anything about language schools there, but the city itself is paradise. Tropical climate, Spanish Colonial downtown, beautiful beaches, friendly people, nice day trips to the islands and awesome food. I still feel nostalgic for Cartagena and my friends and life there. I lived and volunteered with locals and took one day off per week, so my perspective is not that of a typical tourist, but I can tell you I would love to be there as a tourist or expat.

Edit to add: Ack! I did a search for "Cartagena" on the boards and answered your post without realizing you meant Spain, not Colombia. Scratch everything I said above. I've never been to Spain, and know nothing about that Cartagena. I highly recommend the South America one, however.


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

Oops! Never mind.

I guess that the lack of an answer to the OP means that no-one here knows much about Cartagena (Spain). I'm not aware of there being much of an immigrant population nor it being a tourist resort. I visited there once from the sea but never got further than the marina. Some elements of the Spanish Navy are based there. That's all I know.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

I know nothing of the are, but in our area (Benmadena, costa del sol) their attitude to the bilingual thing in schools is that its for the Spanish children to learn english (and I'd question what the schools actually mean by bilingual as many of the teachers are not bilingual). My daughter went to a so called "bilingual school" and she wasnt allowed in the bilingual classes as the told me she didnt need to learn english. At 8yo, your son should pick Spanish up fairly easily tho. Or you could go international as they have a good mixture of nationalities who the schools tend to get speaking spanish fairly quickly. My daughter (we moved her in the end) and my son became almost fluent from being at an international school

Jo xxx


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## Monkey Hangers (Jan 8, 2009)

We live around 20kms from Cartagena. I have only been there once (we moved over in September 2011) and I loved it. Very much the feel of Amsterdam we thought. (Without the sleazy side  ) The port area is beautiful, there is a main shopping street with cafes and bars, lots of little roads off there. We have a visitor arriving today so will be going for another visit this week.
We live in El Algar, a typically Spanish village and there's more life in a tramps vest. Think we will be relocating when our lease expires. 
The closest English speaking school I know of, we have no kids, is Kings College. It is right on the edge of a golf urbanization called La Torre Golf. There are oodles of properties for rent in La Torre as the holiday rental side is very quiet. We stayed there for a week's fact finding in July. It was virtually empty. Nearest town to there as such, again, typically Spanish, is Roldan if you want to research it.
We have some good friends who are long term rental property agents. They have an apartment which they rent out very cheaply for folks wanting to come over, explore the area. Don't know if I can mention their details here, so by all means PM me if you want to know more about that.


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