At the southeastern extremity of Spain, in the region of Murcia and the municipality of Cartagena, lies Cabo de Palos. A cape which hosts a small village and a steady smattering of tourists, this is one of the area’s most beautiful spots. While the strip of La Manga juts north, cutting between the Mediterranean Sea and Mar Menor – the salty lagoon apparently described as ‘the largest swimming pool in the world’ by American actress and swimmer Esther Williams – Cabo de Palos sits south of Mar Menor, looking right out onto the Mediterranean.
The name ‘Palos’ is derived from the Latin palus, which can mean swamp, marsh, or pool, or post, stake, or stay, perhaps with the nautical sense of mast. Forming a small peninsula, Cabo de Palos is one of a range of volcanic mounts along with Grosa and the Hormigas Islands. Together they create an enclosed underwater reserve, known as the Marine Reserve of Cabo de Palos and the Hormigas Islands.
Cabo de Palos boasts a scenic coastline, its cliffs, rocks, and momentary beaches capped by the lighthouse which began operating in 1865. While Mar Menor is an ideal location for a variety of watersports – sailing, kayaking, windsurfing, stand-up paddling, and more – Cabo de Palos sees a flurry of boat tours and diving activities. Small boats sit in the marina, and stores selling wetsuits line the front streets, between restaurants renowned for their fresh fish, summarised by Tripadvisor’s comprehensive and well-serviced list of the cape’s thirty best eating places.
Beyond the weathered villas with their pergolas facing the sea, and modernised communal apartments, the centre of the village features shops selling assorted fashion, ice cream and frozen yoghurt, and still more restaurants. There is a large Spar supermarket on the edge of the village. And each Sunday, from morning until the early afternoon, a sprawling market affords fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, baking, homeware, and clothes, shoes, and bags bearing the names of famous designers for remarkably low prices.
Each August, a festival of choral music takes place in Cabo de Palos, by the lighthouse or in the nearby church. And in late September, the cape plays its part in Cartagena’s festival of the Romans and Carthaginians, which sees parades, arts and crafts, and boisterous celebrations amid the reenactment of ancient battles.
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According to the Roman writers Pliny the Elder and Rufus Festus Avienus, a temple dedicated to Baal Hammon, the chief god of Carthage, once stood on the promontory of the cape, which later became a shrine to Saturn. Under Philip II of Spain, in the middle of the sixteenth century, a watchtower was built on the promontory, on the lookout for the Barbary Pirates. And during the Second Barbary War in 1815, following routine attacks on American merchant vessels in the Mediterranean, the United States fought the Barbary Pirates off the coast of Cabo de Palos.
The Italian merchant steamer SS Sirio sank a couple of miles east of Cabo de Palos on 4 August 1906, causing the deaths of at least 150 Italian and Spanish emigrants bound for Argentina. Several prominent Catholic officials were among the drowned. The shipwreck became notorious, commemorated in popular ballads, owing especially to the behaviour of the captain, Giuseppe Piccone, who was alleged to have abandoned ship at the first opportunity, causing devastating panic.
Finally in the grand history of the place, the Battle of Cabo de Palos was the biggest naval battle of the Spanish Civil War, fought on the night of 5-6 March 1938. It resulted in a decisive Republican victory, with one Nationalist cruiser sunk and 765 dead, but this had little impact on the course of the war, won the following year by General Francisco Franco.
