Cartagena Spain
 

Have 9 hours to explore area from our cruise ship. Looking for excursion and independent sightseeing advice. Will be there on September 20, 2017.

The Roman theater from 1BC is a highlight. Well done access to it.
Nice town to walk around, have lunch.

We may have gone the Alhambra from there on a ship's excursion. If you've never seen that, it might be worth the expense - not sure how easy it would be to do on your own. But as I mentioned in the Gibraltar post, Cruise Critic might be a better "friend" for planning your trip than here.

To the OP - ask right here on Fodors on the Cruise Forum. Several experts there. Best to list the cruise on one thread with all the port stops rather than separately. All your answers will be together.

Thanks for the replies, especially Sassafrass for the Cruise Forum tip. I do use Cruise Critic and we have a roll call for our ship that people try to plan excursions and discuss each port. Did you visit the Museum of the Roman Theatre and the Old Cathedral?

Stick to Cartagena. Granada is too far if you've only got nine hours. The Alhambra deserves a fair bit of time.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rocket...57658010397268

Those are my photos.

The museum is okay but the main feature is the forum itself. From what I remember you had to pass the museum to get to the forum.

Traveker_Nick: Unfortunately the OP's trip was a couple of months ago (topped by an advertiser)