Cartagena

11 January 2014

Cartagena is a tourist city, plain and simple. For that reason the restaurants, shops and general atmosphere cater for westerners. But it still has charm. It has several beaches and harbour fronts, but my favourite place is the Old City, an antiquated area surrounded by an old colonial fort wall. Inside the city the buildings have high ceilings, wooden floors, and terrace balconies dripping with hanging vines and flowers. It feels like a European outpost.

It's possible to rent electric scooters to drive around the old city and around the top of the wall as well. There are plenty of outside stalls and wares laid out on blankets within the walls as locals sell their hand-made creations to tourists (for an elevated price I suspect).

At least the water here is safe to drink from the tap. It was a real pain having to buy water all the time in Santa Marta.

I wish I'd booked my hostel well in advance here, because all the good ones were taken. At least the one I'm at now (Iguana's Hostel) has air conditioning on as long as someone is in the dorm room. At my last one it was only turned on at night. And here, air con is a must for a comfortable rest.

New part of Cartagena

The Old City behind the Wall

The Starlight Square

The Moonlight Square

The food quarter

Hanging Lights Square