Cartagena

Wednesday the 11^th of April 2012

We have been to so many places on this cruise and some, as you will have gathered, have been more surprising than others. Colombia and Cartagena in particular are the latest in this run of pleasant and extraordinarily wonderful surprises.

Cartagena is a U.N.E.S.C.O world heritage site and when you are here you understand why. The old city within the 15^th Century walls is a maze of tiny streets with houses and shops built in Portuguese style with wooden balconies and elaborate woodwork entrances and doors and porches. The church and cathedral also dating back to the 1400/1500’s are ornate with gold domes and well-appointed turrets towering over the little City with an extraordinary beauty.

We chose well today in the method of transport to discover this delightful place; we travelled through the narrow streets and squares in a horse and carriage! Wending our way through these streets was a unique experience. Not only could we see the sites but we could also smell the mimosa and other plants and trees that are prolifically planted in the streets and squares. The ancient buildings are used for business as well as residential and decorated in the old Portuguese style. Some of the buildings have evolved from their original purpose into more practical uses such as the Gaol which is now a shopping and market centre and the old convent is now a hotel.

Outside the walls is one of the biggest 14^th Century fortresses ever built and it is immense. The new city, which we did not visit. can be seen from the old City and it is immense with giant sky scrapers. It is built some way from the old City and therefore does not intrude into the beauty of this World Heritage site.

Colombia has a population of 50,000,000 and is one of the largest S/American countries. Again it is hot most of the year with 100% humidity. We were glad to be back aboard but only to get showered and venture out into the port area. This is one of the most interesting port areas. It has an air conditioned duty free shop surrounded by grassy areas and enclosures with pink flamingos and aviary with colourful tropical birds and parrots. There is also a very nice outdoor coffee shop and we spent a nice time here drinking coffee and delighting in the company of other travellers and the atmosphere of bird calls and wonderful smells of the flora and fauna.

This is our last port of call in S/America and now it’s on to the Caribbean.

Fd