6 Best Sights in The Murcia Coast, Spain

This interesting Roman forum remained buried for over 20 centuries until excavations in 2008 and 2009 into the hillside revealed an entire block of Roman buildings. Highlights here include a thermal bathing complex, atrium, and the Decumano Calzada Romana, a section of the Roman road that originally joined the harbor and forum. The paintings on the walls of the banquet hall in the atrium and the mosaics in the baths are of particular note.

Discovered in 1987, the Teatro Romano dates from the late 1st century BC. This impressive theater was built into the northern slopes of the Concepción Hill and could seat over 6,000 spectators. The museum displays the most important pieces found during the excavation.

A block from the House of Fortune, the Augusteum remains were once two important public Roman buildings dating from the 1st century BC. It's thought that they were used as a place where the priests of the cult of the emperor Augustus met to spread the imperial ideology during his reign. 

At the remains of the Casa de la Fortuna, which belonged to a wealthy family of the 1st century BC, the most attractive feature is the fresco painted on the dining-room walls. It's to the south of the tourist office, down the main road. 

Across from the tourist office on the San José hill, the Punic Wall dates from 227 BC. The walls enclosed and helped defend the Punic city that became the capital of the Carthaginians on the Iberian Peninsula.

A little distance outside the old town, and built over the 4th-century Roman necropolis of San Antón, the Museo Arqueológico is the headquarters for all archaeological study in this area. Exhibits present Cartagena's history from prehistoric times (there's a large display of fossils) to the Romans whose architecture, weapons, amphoras, and coins dominate the museum.