Cartagena des Indias

Hi everyone,

After a week exploring Santa Marta we started a land tour of Colombia.  We were away for 8 days and spent half our time in Cartagena des Indias and half in Leticia and the Amazon.  We travelled with our friends from sv Cerulean.

We just had to visit Cartagena des Indias to compete the trifecta with the ruins of Carthage (near Tunis) and Cartagena in Spain.  We loved Cartagena in Spain and Cartegenas des Indias was great too, with many similarities.

Sunset view across Cartagena from our apartment

We travelled by bus from Santa Marta to Cartagena.  It was a 5 hour trip with interesting views and scenes along the way.  That afternoon we strolled around the Centro Historico.  It's a spectacular place marred only by the many hawkers trying to sell stuff.  Cartagena is a popular tourist stop for cruise liners so it's best to explore the old city on days we few or no visiting cruise liners.

Typical street scene in Cartagena's Centro Historico

Interesting columns and statues

Monkeys live in a small city centre park.

Statue outside the naval museum

Many tourist and up-market stores in the town

Sunset at our apartment

The next morning we taxied into the old city and found a nice cafe for breakfast.  The morning was spent on a free tour which was well worthwhile.

Great Tucker!

Sculptures

Touring the old city

Statue of Bolivar

Waterfront statues

After the tour we met with the OCC Port Officer Lee and the crew of sv DanceMe for lunch.  Lee provided a wealth of local information and history.

One of the many things we learned on the tour was the meaning of the various door knocker styles in the old town.  The doors are very high to accommodate Spaniards on horses!

Royalty

Military

Seafarer

Merchant

City wall sunset

On day 2 we explored further and 'did' the museums.  Nautical displays are peppered with mentions of Sir Francis Drake who terrorised Spanish South America.  He ransomed Cartagena before sailing around Cape Horn (discovering Drake's Passage).  He ransomed a number of Spanish settlements on the west coast of South America and beyond.  Apparently even today naughty local kids are threatened with having El Drako set onto them.

Breakfast at a bookstore cafe

The inquisition ran for 200 years in Cartagena

Lots of nautical history

Partial replica of a galleon

How the Spanish fended off the Brits second time around

On day 3 we focussed on street art...

Angry men

Beautiful women

Cartagena is a vibrant mix of cultures

Beyond street art

Regular houses sport street art

Paintings for sale too

Much of the street art is actually advertising for cafes and bars.  We certainly enjoyed exploring a few of them.

Fish restaurant foyer

Snazzy coffee bar/cafe

Worldwide beer bar

By lunchtime we had heavy tropical rainfall.  Many of the old city roads were flooded.  We hopped between cafes, unsuccessfully trying to stay dry.

We really enjoyed our time in Cartagena.  Definitely worth a visit!