CartagenaCartagena

We were all very much looking forward to staying a week in Cartagena in one place without changing hotels, bus rides or flights. And Cartagena didn’t disappoint!

Cartagena is widely advertised as Colombia’s most beautiful city, and without having seen anything else of Colombia as of yet – I can see why. The historic part of town is amazing with lots of small, narrow streets, lots of bars and restaurants, churches and lots of lights for Christmas now.

Let’s start with our apartment. We had an amazing AirBnB apartment right at the beach with beautiful views along the coast and it is named Sunset Apartment for a reason as well. Our routine for the last few days was something like that: Late breakfast, beach, pool, taxi into historic part of town, exploring, late dinner and back to apartment. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it!

And it was pretty cool but also good to get moving again now, and even better to do this with family. My mum and sisters arrive tomorrow and we stay for a few more nights here in Cartagena before heading off to Santa Marta, Pereira and the Bogota for Gela’s and Juan’s wedding! Very much looking forward to the next few weeks!

The beach is an interesting topic. Don’t think nice and quite, relaxing time at the beach. Anytime you leave the apartment you are immediately surrounded by people wanting to sell you anything you can imagine.
At the beach itself you are not just finding your spot to lay down – no, you get surrounded by people again who want to sell you their spots. To be honest, that was fine as we always rented a small, tent-like cover so we had some shade. So you found your spot, settled down and then it starts. I am not kidding, every 30 seconds or 1 minute at the latest, the next person comes around offering you stuff to buy. Jewellery, baskets, hats, massage, drinks, food, ice cream, boogie boards, jet skies, more food, more drinks, trips to even more crowded beaches, cigars, … you get the drift – unbelievable! Sorry but after a week, I have enough of this! Had to pull out my grumpy German face a few times just to get rid of the most annoying ones. And that is with knowing that tourism is pretty much the only large economy in this place… Jeez!

Then heading into the historic part of town, similar story but much easier to ignore all the vendors. The taxi ride was anything from scary, quick, stuck in traffic but overall was cheap and the amount of taxis (tiny ones!) driving around is astonishing. I don’t think we ever waited for more than a minute and quickly learned that a friendly honk means “Do you need a ride?”.

The historic part of town is the major draw card for Cartagena for sure, it is just amazingly beautiful. See below for some pictures, they give an idea I hope.
The old fortress is definitely worth the entry fee (I think our first entry fee of the trip) and the fortress is one of the largest ever build. The kids absolutely loved it as well and asked lots of questions. We walked on the old 10 metre wide wall, explored the various parts of the area, enjoyed the colourful murals and saw some amazing street artists as well. I am sure we will keep exploring with the rest of the family over the coming days. My sister Silja spent some time here a few years back and will know a few more places to go to.

Coming back to the apartment, the complex also had a rooftop pool and a gym. Jennifer and I went to the gym for some much needed exercise after breakfast every morning, hope we keep the routine up more or less.
The rooftop pool had amazing views across the ocean and back into the historic part of town and it was great to spend an hour or so after the beach. Added bonus that no one tried to sell you anything up there!

Last but not least, we saw frigate birds, black vultures, pelicans and other birds soaring around the area. At the beach, around the apartment and on the rooftop pool – an amazing sight which I will not forget for some time! Didn’t expect to see the frigate birds until we reach Galápagos Islands, so that was a nice surprise. Beautiful but nasty big birds, stealing fish etc. from hard working terns.

Anyway, that’s it from me from Cartagena. Not sure when we will have some time to write again over the next couple of weeks. Happy Holidays to you all, have a good break over Christmas and New Year!