Cartagena - stepping back in time

  Cartagena, Colombia Monday, October 19, 2015

So why did we come to Cartagena? Well the truth is, when we knew we were going to include South America on our trip, Jody Googled "South America" went to images and there it was. Cartagena. I want to go there she said "because it looks lovely". And so here we are are! Wow! And we are not disappointed one little bit.She also tells Bryan now - after 15 months into our trip, that that is how she came up with everything on her list. Not to marvel at the culture or take in the history. No. Google Images! Well it's a strategy that seems to work so why no go with it we say. Here is a bit of info on the city taken from google: Situated in a bay in the Caribbean Sea, Cartagena has the most extensive fortifications in South America. The port of Cartagena was one of the most important ports of the Caribbean and an essential link in the route of the West Indies and so an important chapter in the history of world exploration and the great commercial maritime routes.  Known for the 6.8 miles of walls built around it by the Spanish, Cartagena has a historic centre that is the soul of the city. It should be explored slowly and without a care in the world. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984, Cartagena is ideal for whiling away the hours in one of the many coffee shops or book stores. In addition to taking in the history of centuries-old cobblestone streets, you can explore the Castle of San Felipe, experience the wonder of the city’s many churches, and even enjoy a leisurely swim in a nearby mud volcano. Whether you explore the town by foot, on bicycle, Segway, or horse-drawn carriage, you’re bound to marvel at the flower-filled balconies of Cartagena, whose sunsets illuminate the silhouettes of watchtowers and forts, and whose walls act as benches for lovers to sit upon and observe the sea.. Did you know....Colombia also leads the world in avian biodiversity; it is home to 1.889 species, or 20 % of all bird species on Earth.So it's not all drugs and gangs afterall. But we knew that anyway. Our arrival here could not have been nicer either. We had been unsure of how the Colombian people would be as neither of us know of any Colombians apart from the lady that ran the Spanish lesson we took last year and she was very nice. At airport immigration - usually a formal and austere setting, we handed over our passports and the man got very excited. "is this your first time in Colombia?" he asked. When we said yes he got very excitable "Welcome, welcome. Hopefully this will not be the last time, we are very glad to have you here. Welcome welcome" he enthused. Outside the airport the heat was overwhelming. We jumped in a taxi which promptly broke down half way to our hotel. It was over-heating and we had to wait in the boiling hot taxi until a man appeared with a jug of water to put in the radiator. OK.So that is how things work here! We checked in - our room is basic but spotlessly clean. We weren't sure what we were expecting cleanliness wise here but everything we have seen so far has been gleaming.Every day we take a walk around the old city. It is full of little streets bursting with colourful buildings you just want to stand and stare at. The whole place is dotted with gorgeous coffee shops and little restaurants oozing character and it's somewhere you can spend dreamy days doing nothing if you wanted to. We can have great food around £20 for 2 people including a cocktail or we can downscale a bit and get a meal for about £2 in some of the smaller, less touristy places. We found a beautiful rooftop restaurant and an Italian restaurant tucked away in a little courtyard, more Italian restaurants - lots of Italian actually and not a McD in sight! Perfect! (we did see a subway though and it really does look out of place). A bottle of beer here in a restaurant or bar will set you back £1 a bottle - or 36p in a supermarket. Wine is about £2.00 a glass or a bottle in the supermarket is around £2 - £6 depending on the wine. Everywhere there are pavement sellers - people who lay their blankets out and sell hats, paintings, jewellery & gorgeous colourful handmade bags. Oh we could spend a lot of money here. Well Jody could! We changed hotels after two nights as the one we were in was a bit pricy at £25 a night. We went door knocking again and found one for £20 a night - still more than we wanted to pay really, but this one was more of an apartment with our own kitchen. This meant we could reduce our spend on meals out as we could make breakfast for ourselves and as many cups of tea as jody could drink. And it was in the Old City so slap bang in the best location. One evening we took a horse-drawn carriage ride. It is a "must do" thing here at least once. It was a lovely warm evening to be driven through the cobbled streets like this. Our guide was shouting out places of interest all in Spanish and we didn't understand a word of it but we had a great time anyway. It also helped us get a bearing on where things were and we spotted a few new places to check out too. One day we took a city tour on a little open sided bus (free air conditioning they call it) It didn't start well as everything the guide said was in Spanish and we has specifically requested an English speaking guide - our Spanish just isn't up to this yet. But after a quiet word our guide was very happy to translate. We went to an old monastery - Popa de la Hill, an old fort - Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas, where we went through the ancient tunnels. Then onto some old dungeons (if they had new ones it would be worrying!) The dungeons turned out to be more like vaults in the city wall and had all been converted into little shops. A great place for souvenirs but a little pricy for us. We'll stick to the street sellers.One of the things we really enjoyed doing when we were here, was buying unusual fruit in the supermarket and trying it. The supermarket was right opposite our new hotel so there were always new things to try. Some of it we wished we hadn't but all an experience. We decided that the time was approaching to move on once more. We had many options for cities and places to go and when we considered price of bus tickets, length of bus journeys v price of plane tickets, length of plane journeys, a flight to Medellin seemed the best answer. The flight was the same price as a bus ticket but only 45 minutes instead of 13 hours. It does go against what we normally would do as you don't see any of the country if you fly, but we had tried so many ways to make the bus trip more viable. We looked at breaking up the journey into a couple of smaller bus trips and staying in other towns along the way. To be honest though, there really were not any worthwhile stops on the way. We had also been warned about the treacherous roads around Medellin as it is in the mountains so a flight was just the best option all around. The hotel chap flagged a taxi down for us. We thought negotiations for price were not going well when the driver stated it was 50,000 pesos (£10). Through our limited spanish and the help of the hotel chap, we tried to negotiate to 40,000 which still seemed a lot to us (£8) but then we all had a laugh when we finally realised he was only asking 15,000 (£3). Well we did say our Spanish wasn't up to much yet! We were lucky he didn't just say yes and accept the 40,000 when we offered it. They are very honest here. The airport terminal is just a short drive a way from us (well it would be normally if your driver didn't take you to the bus terminales at the opposite end of town). So we ended up giving him 20,000 anyway which is only £4. Then we were off. Medellin here we come - formally title holder of  "The World's Most Dangerous City" award. Will it live up to that title - we hope not - let's go and find out! [gallery columns="4" ids="11631,11638,11645,11657,11669,11681,11688,11697,11707,11722,11732,11748,11760,11771,11783,11796,11804,11818,11826,11837,11850,11864,11888,11898,11907,11915,11925,11942,11953,11965,11978,11994,12009,12023,12036,12052,12068,12086,12099,12115,12131,12144,12155,12163,12164,12167,12171,12175,12179,12183,12186,12192,12193,12200,12203,12206,12208,12214,12219,12222,12227,12231,12235,12240,12244,12247,12248,12252,12256,12259,12260,12263,12266,12269,12271,12274,12276,12278,12283,12285,12288,12293,12295,12298,12302,12305,12307,12310"]