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Club Nautico where we arrived on Lady Kis

The pictures on this page prove the old adage. There is little that we can tell you that is not here in full color. Cartagena is a very nice Caribbean port with a wonderfully well-preserved old city that is filled with balconied, red-roofed, pastel-painted colonial buildings, all with a central courtyard or three.

Pegasus sculptures at head of Pegaus Docks

In addition, the old city preserves much of its fortifications including long sections of city wall that you can walk along and have captivating views of both the old city and the water. The city authorities have accommodated the city to modern traffic by building a peripheral road outside the old city walls. That makes arriving in the old city by car quite an adventure as one minute you are riding outside the walls and then suddenly, a quick left turn into an unnoticed tunnel in the wall and voila you are in the maze of narrow streets that define the Casco Antiguo.

Clock Tower Gate and Cathedral Dome

The central part of the old city, however, is a pedestrian-only zone, which caused us a small problem on arrival because the hostel we were looking for was in that zone and so inaccessible to our taxi. In the end we caused some local entertainment as we trundled our heavily-laden luggage carts along the narrow, uneven streets sweating and cursing in equal measure looking for the place. In the end, and fortunately for us as we would have taken it immediately, the hostel was full and so Jan was sent off to explore and found the much nicer Hotel Centro. It advertizes itself as a four-star hotel, which it is not, but it is a very lovely place and well worth the $30 that we paid, including a nice hot breakfast.

Plaza de las Coches (former slave market) Statue of Pedro de Heredia, founder of Cartegena

The city was a joy to explore. Small enough to be easily covered on foot, turning every corner brought another great view. There are several squares like the one pictured here, with a statue or sculpture to adorn it, often with tables set out by nearby restaurants for coffee or snacks or even a full-blown meal.

Cathedral Dome, seen from Museo de la Inquisicion

If you don't want to eat 'in public', you can choose one of the dozens of very nice restaurants that offer daily specials at terrific value. The quality of food is very good and the surroundings are delightful. We are not gourmets, but think that even they would find something to please here in Cartagena.

Cathedral in heart of Old Town

No Spanish Colonial city worth its salt would be without its cathedral. Cartagena was no exception. Surprisingly, however, the cathedral didn't show the tender loving care of an active congregation. Perhaps parish money was scarce because there were several other churches in the old city and perhaps the congregation is small given how much of the city is devoted to tourism. That is a shame. Maybe some tourist taxes should be dedicated to maintenance of this important piece of history.

Colonial building on north side of Parque de Bolivar

We also found several museums in the old city that were more than worth a visit. The former headquarters in Cartagena of the Inquisition is now a musuem with a small collection that isn't nearly so interesting as the building itself which overlooks the main square in town, called Parque Bolivar. The square is a lovely place to sit in the late afternoon and watch the world go by. Nearby is the Zuni Gold Museum which has a surprisingly good collection of pre-Columbian gold as well as a nice history of the local pre-Columbian Indians. But best of all for both of us was the Naval History Museum. On two floors it has a very comprehensive history of Cartagena and the Atlantic Coast of Colombia including fantastic models of the country's Spanish forts and a very impressive collection of boat models covering everything from the Phoenicians to modern day battleships. Our favorites were the models of the Egyptian triremes, the Roman warship, and the Spanish galleons. Not to be missed.

Calle de Arzobispado (Archbishop Street) Centro Hotel and flags of USA, European Union, Colombia, and Cartagena

The photo above is our hotel, although the window of our room gives onto the side street. We were eternally grateful for the efficient air-conditioning in our room, because sudden downpours notwithstanding it was always hot and steamy. We ate breakfast every morning in the cafe that occupies the corner of the block and the building and liked watching street-life as we ate.

City Wall - Baluarte San Lucas

We spent a very hot couple of hours one morning walking along the top of the city wall. We knew it would be warm and so we set off even before breakfast to try and beat the heat.

City Wall - Baluarte de Santa Clara View toward sea

City Wall - Baluarte de Santa Clara View toward Old Town

It turned out to be a very good idea as the early morning light was just perfect and we ended our walk in front of one of the old city's fanciest hotels (seen behind Jan in the photo above) where we stopped to cool off before walking through the still shady streets back to our hotel and breakfast.

Castillo San Felipe (Saint Philip Fort)

Gerry braved the heat one fine day to go and visit the remains of the Castillo San Felipe just outside of the old city. His reward, other than drenched clothing was some fine views of the city and some interesting wildlife as well (see below). Maybe our friends Rose and Eduard from the Netherlands would recognize this specimen, but we have not been able to.

Bird on waterfront near Castillo San Felipe We don't know the name of the bird

City view SW from Castillo San Felipe Bocagrande district in upper right

The list of Spanish forts we have visited is growing so long we think we will have to dedicate a special page to them especially as we assume that we will find many more as we venture further into South America.

Bocagrande district 2 km south of old town

One Sunday afternoon, just after a quite heavy downpour (the remnants of which you can see in the photo above) we set off to take advantage of the cool weather to walk the two kilometers or so to the tip of a long arm of land that stretches out into the water from near the old city. Called Bocagrande (large mouth) it is now the resort area of Cartagena for Colombians.

Bocagrande beach on a Sunday after a storm

One side of the spit of land consists of one beach area after another. Inland are two blocks of tourist devleopment such as hotels and restaurants and stores selling beach paraphernalia. We got here just in time for dinner, ate a pleasant meal and then walked back to the old town.