Cartagena

Cartagena

The final stop on the Colombian leg of our adventure was Cartagena, the jewel of the Caribbean, with a historic, walled, colonial centre and known for its vibrant culture and night life.  We heard good things, but also that it was very different to anywhere else in Colombia due to the number of tourists. Colombians had warned us that we would likely be hassled by hawkers and tour operators and that restaurants and taxis would overcharge unsuspecting tourists… We needn’t have worried though, as with everywhere we went in Colombia, we felt completely safe throughout our time in Cartagena. There were a lot more street hawkers, performers and people trying to sell tours, but none were in any way aggressive and all were very friendly with the kids.

We had splashed out on a two bedroom apartment in the heart of the old walled city as we were coming off the back a few weeks of shared family rooms and wanted some space and the opportunity to make some of our own meals. This was completely worth it, the apartment was in a period building just off Bolivar Park, we could hear the sound of the street performers from the balcony overlooking the courtyard and everything was easily within walking distance. The nature of the old city of Cartagena, with its small, narrow streets, made it easily the most pedestrian place we had visited so far. Becky agreed it felt like the streets of Sevilla in places.

When we arrived in Cartagena it was on the back of a delayed 5 and a half hour bus from Santa Marta. We had hoped that this would be an easy route as it is flat and very popular, but the roads were very busy the whole way and the ride was not smooth. There also was no stop at a local restaurant/service station as we had become accustomed to. The taxi from the bus station took another 40 minutes, and the first taxi driver attempted to wildly over charge us, more than double the recommended rate. Thankfully there is plenty of competition and when we made it clear we would only pay the £6-7 agreed by the drivers’ union another taxi was happy to agree to the fare.

Being in the centre of the old town meant that we could have a few days without needing to get into a car and explore the city on foot the way we always prefer to. We were able to walk the walls, visit the fortress, and take in the excellent naval museum, as well as enjoy wandering the streets. It was also nice to be able to get out for a run along the seafront in Bocagrande, though this had to be early in the morning due to the heat and humidity!

And the heat really was quite something, easily into the 30s every day, but with a level of humidity that we had never experienced before. It was sweaty. Two showers a day, and drinking litres of water.

Cartagena was a beautiful place to spend five days as a family, and it fully deserves its reputation as a tourist haven. It also has a fascinating history that is told very well through the colonial buildings, museums, monuments and excellent guides. We didn’t have any issues with safety and people were incredibly friendly and helpful, though again we weren’t out late at night when most such issues occur.

Cartagena highlights

Walking the walls

A full circuit of the old city, taking in most of the remaining walls, was around 5km and a great introduction to the city on our first morning. Definitely best done in the morning before it gets too warm, or in the evening to take in the sunset. The walls are very well preserved and easy to walk, only interrupted up in a couple of places. The views around the city were great as was the colonial architecture. There are also a collection of informational signs around the key sites that help to tell the story of the city.

Castillo San Felipe de Barajas

Just beyond the old city walls, with a commanding position over the city and the harbour, is the Castillo San Felipe. This was the principle fort defending the most important city in the Spanish empire, developed over the course of a century to respond to the various threats and attacks that the city faced (principally the French and the British).

The kids loved exploring the extensive tunnels around the castle that were used to move troops and material around out of sight of the enemy.

Museo Naval del Caribe

This museum is very unassuming, though it does have a beautiful location within the walls, near the access point to the coastal road. We learnt on the tour that the building used to be the hospital for the old city and the courtyard stands on top of a number of mass graves from outbreaks of disease and assaults on the city during the colonial period. We opted to pay the extra £8 to have a guided tour in English for 90 minutes around the main exhibition as there were very few descriptions in English and this was a very good decision (it also means we could confidently count it into home school time).

The museum is split into two exhibition halls, downstairs focused on the colonial history of Cartagena and the many naval battles that took place during this time. The upstairs is dedicated to the modern Colombian navy, with nice simulations of the bride of a ship, a submarine and a navy helicopter.

Our guide took us around the exhibition downstairs, taking us through the history of the city from its origins with the Caribe people, to the first interactions with Europeans and its development as the principal Spanish port in the region that grew to be briefly the richest city in the world. This really brought the city to life for us, and included fascinating parts of British colonial history that we were definitely never taught to us in school. We learned that Francis Drake had tried and failed to sack the city under royal charter, and that during the war with Spain in 1741 (the War of Jenkin’s Ear - I’m currently reading ‘The Wager’ which also occurred during this conflict), Britain failed to take the city with what was at the time the largest amphibious assault ever undertaken.

Upstairs the kids absolutely loved climbing into the bridge of a ship, into the control room of a submarine and into a helicopter, and they could have played there for hours pretending to navigate the Caribbean.

Definitely worth a visit in the heat of the day, even if just for the air conditioning.

Restaurante Espiritu Santo 

We have had loads of good local food on our trip around Colombia, but this place deserves a special mention. Cartagena’s food scene is well known, and the prices are closer to what we expect to pay in Europe in many places. Eating out for lunch always offers the chance of great value in Colombia by choosing a ‘menu del dia’ and that is what Espiritu Santo specialises in, putting out simple, tasty, and great value food in what looks like an old colonial warehouse.