Cartagena (UNESCO)

We arrived by plane into Cartagena de Indias (Cartagena), a city in northern Colombia on the Caribbean coast. We'd come from Colombia's modern Medellin, visiting its surrounding lakes and other sites. Now we were looking forward to seeing some of Colombia's historic sites in Cartagena, a UNESCO World Heritage City.

Marg in historic Cartagena (UNESCO), Colombia

Cartagena dates back to 4000 BC when various indigenous peoples populated the area. Then in 1533 the Spanish founded a city there and it became a key port for the loading of gold and other riches taken from South America to Spain.

Cartagena soon become important in the expansion of the Spanish Empire, and the rich pickings drew royalty and wealthy viceroys there, who built homes befitting their economic status. The city grew, and now days Cartagena is a modern city of 900,000 people with an historic colonial centre.

View from our apartment in Cartagena (UNESCO), Colombia

While wanting to see the historic aspects of Cartagena, we also wanted to have a seaside holiday there and booked accommodation at an Air BnB apartment by the sea. It also had great views of the water.

But we'd had a long, hot taxi ride from the airport, with road flooding from a hurricane in nearby Panama, and chaotic traffic. Then we arrived to find our Air BnB apartment was not ready for us. It was quite a dramatic arrival into a new city! So we went out for a walk on the beach to relax.

Marg on Bocagrande beach, Cartagena (UNESCO), Colombia

We were in the quiet El Laguito area on the edge of Bocagrande, Cartagena's main tourist beach. It had soft grey sand and the water was incredibly warm. It was full of people enjoying the last of the day's sun, and vendors trying to sell anything and everything.

That evening, we walked around the immediate area surrounding our apartment. The location was great as we were close to shops, supermarkets, and restaurants. We discovered a lovely seafood restaurant that was right on the waterfront, where we enjoyed cocktails and a fabulous meal for dinner.

Marg in Getsemaní, Cartagena (UNESCO), Colombia

The next morning, we caught a taxi to the historic area of Cartagena and spent quite a bit of time exploring Getsemaní, which is one of the oldest areas of Cartagena.

Getsemaní sits just outside of the Cartagena city wall. It is made up of very narrow cobbled streets, colourful buildings, and lots of street art. It is the bohemian sector of Cartagena and we loved it.

Having a street haircut in Plaza Trinidad, Getsemaní, Cartagena (UNESCO)

People were out and about, and conducting their business on the streets, including cutting hair! It was wonderfully vibrant.

We found small and interesting plazas on every other corner, and especially liked Plaza Trinidad, the oldest part of Cartagena. Getsemaní was very easy to walk around and we explored a lot. We walked from from shady street to shady tree trying to preserve our energy in the extreme heat, while still enjoying the ambience.

Near the French crepe café, Getsemaní, Cartagena (UNESCO)

After a while, we stopped for food at a French crepe café, and enjoyed a nice, strong Colombian coffee to accompany it. Then we walked until we were too tired to walk more, and headed back to the apartment.

The next morning, we got a taxi into the historic walled city of Cartagena, and walked on part of the very solid old city walls. These 500-year-old coral-stone walls are amazingly intact.

Leigh on city wall with Castillo de San Felipe behind, Cartagena (UNESCO)

From there, we had a wonderful view of the huge 16th century military fortress, Castillo de San Felipe. It is said to be the greatest fortress ever built by the Spanish.

During the colonial era, as well as being a key port, Cartagena was a military stronghold of the Spanish in the Caribbean. These days, it has the largest example of military architecture from the colonial era, according to UNESCO. We found it very impressive with its very thick walls and huge cannons.

Marg going to Torre del Reloj into historic Cartagena (UNESCO)

Next, we walked through the Torre del Reloj, or Clock Tower of Cartagena. This impressive structure adorns the main gate into the centre of the old walled city.

Torre del Reloj was built over the period from 1601 to 1631. Originally it would have had a drawbridge in front of it, helping to protect Cartagena. These days, it is considered to be one of the best-preserved Spanish colonial fortifications in the Americas.

Plaza de Los Coches, Cartagena (UNESCO), Colombia

Inside the Torre del Reloj, we found the colourful Plaza de Los Coches. This plaza has a sad history because it was the main square where slaves were bought and sold during the period when Cartagena was the main slave port of Spanish America.

The first wave of slaves entered Cartagena in the 16th century, and it is believed that over the following century, more than 1 million Africans were bought to the port and became slaves.

Street vendor in historic Cartagena (UNESCO), Colombia

Over the centuries, the slaves were subject to war, poverty, condemnation and other hardships. As a result of the slave trade, a major part of Cartagena's population is Black or Afro-Colombian.

These populations are still experiencing hardship, and are marginalized in Cartagena as in other cities in Colombia. Their health and housing are poor, educational levels are low, and unemployment is high. Many seemed to survive by selling goods to tourists.

Pastel buildings with bougainvillea, Cartagena (UNESCO), Colombia

Also as a result of the slave trade, Cartagena became rich. The wealth was reflected in the architecture and these days, the city is full of beautiful pastel-coloured buildings, with carved wooden balconies that overhand the very narrow streets and abound with colourful bougainvillea.

We noticed that while most of the buildings were grand in scale, they were showing signs of age, dampness, and mildew – probably due to the humid weather. It is regularly 80-100% humidity here. We are mindful however, that most of these buildings are 400 to 500 years old!

Leigh in Cartagena (UNESCO), Colombia

But that doesn't stop Cartagena from looking stunning. There are coloured doorways with interesting door knockers, multicoloured window frames, and hanging plants. Overall, the effect is beautiful.

Over the next few days, we were in and out of the old city of Cartagena several times. We wandered the streets admiring the ancient architecture, enjoying the buzz of the city, watching the people go about their business, and sightseeing.

Monastery, plaza and museums visited, Cartagena (UNESCO), Colombia

We saw several churches and the main cathedral. We also visited the Monasterio de San Pedro Cláver, the Convento de Santo Domingo, the Palacio de la Inquisicion, the Gold Museum, the Museum of Emeralds, and several plazas and parks. Often, we'd have a late lunch in a traditional restaurant in a lovely old building. We had a really nice time.

Eventually, it was time to leave Cartagena. That meant leaving Colombia as well. We'd really enjoyed Colombia - it has been one of the most interesting countries in our 3 months of travel in South America. It has a kind of raw sophistication that we liked, the people are great, the cities and towns are vibrant, and it is so very green.

Bocagrande beach, Cartagena (UNESCO), Colombia

Leaving the beaches and history of Cartagena, our next stop was Bogota where we changed planes to Santiago de Chile. In Santiago, we boarded a LAN plane for the 13-hour flight to Auckland New Zealand (NZ).

While we arrived in Auckland on time, our bags did not. We rushed to catch our connecting flight to our home-town of Wellington NZ, but our bags didn't reach us until the next day...but at least they got there!

Our South America route

What a fabulous trip we'd had. We'd seen and done some amazing things in Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.

While we were away, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit New Zealand. We had been told that our family and friends were ok, but it was nice to actually see that they were, and that our apartment had only minor damage.

We have another trip to South America planned, but this time along the eastern side beginning in Buenos Aires - click here for that blog.

This is part of a blog series about our travels through the north-eastern countries of South America. The first blog in this series is called “In and around Santiago”.