Cartagena

Sorry for such a delay- these days have been full of goings-ons as it is (sadly) my last week in Colombia. This entry is quite long, because our trip to Cartagena required many, many pictures! However, if I had to sum that trip up in a couple words, I could: pure magic.


The Hotel: Hotel Las Americas

To begin, we stayed at perhaps the most fantastic hotel I have ever laid eyes on. Five star, located on a private Caribbean beach. Everything about it was elegant, and the employees were incredibly friendly. I think that perhaps they were not used to seeing such a young couple staying there for no particular reason, because upon checking-in the man at the front desk congratulated Julian and I on our recent marriage! We smiled happily and thanked him; who knows, as Dad pointed out, maybe being newly-weds would entitle us to free stuff! As it turned out, the hotel did send us a complementary bottle of wine and tray of sweets...although the reason for doing so was never made clear.


The entryway to the hotel







The lobby










The front desk


A mural done on the wall near the front lobby, depicting the conquering of Cartagena de Indias.



The walk-ways to the rooms all looked like the above. At night, lizards came out to gather warmth near the lights on the walls.



The door to our room. This picture was initially taken so that we could remember the room number!

The view from our balcony. Every room had a balcony with a hammock to hang on said balcony.

There were three pools; notice the sweet pool-bar in the pool below our room!

More views from the room

Julian at the pool bar

Me enjoying a beverage at the pool bar

It turns out that it was an inexpressibly wonderful thing to have a private beach. You see, there are vendedores ambulantes ("traveling salesmen") that wander the beaches with various things to sell to tourists, and if you are on a public beach they are absolutely unbearable in their relentless quest to sell you something. However, they were not allowed on our beach, so we were left to enjoy the surf, sand and sun in peace...thank goodness! Note also the very cool tables in the pictures below: the tables were constructed out of palm trees with dried palm leaves for roofs. This construction kept the area under the leaves surprisingly cool, which made for the perfect respite from the hot sun.

Views from the private beach

Setting up for a concert the first night we were there

There were multiple restaurants at which we could eat in the hotel. We had breakfast and one meal included in our stay, and the food was excellent. Our favorite place to eat, however, ended up being the little restaurant area right on the private beach. They served fantastic fish, and under the wooden roof a beautiful Caribbean breeze drifted through as we ate.

Julian's fish: fried with the head and all still intact. Lots of bones, but quite tasty.

The Tour of Cartagena

The first full day we were in Cartagena, we caught a four hour tour that took us all around the city in a chiva- a local type of bus that people often rent to take them bar-hopping on big occasions.

Our chiva

Driving around the city is quite a tour through history. In the few pictures below you will see a wall that was constructed in colonial times all around old Cartagena (the center of the city), in order to protect the area from invasions.

The first main stop on the tour was el convento de La Popa. We didn't get a great shot of the entrance, but it is a beautiful convent from the late 1500s established presumably to save the natives from their "satanic" lifestyle.

A courtyard in the convent.

Inside the worship area of the convent

The view from the top of the convent

The next stop was the Castillo de San Filipe. This is a very intricate fortress that was created by the Spanish empire to defend the city and colonies from various pirates (namely, the English and the French). It was also established in the 1500s, and was the largest military fortress in all of the colonies. It is quite interesting because it is full of traps for enemies, and we were allowed to walk straight through those traps and tunnels- how cool!

View of the top

The canons pointing at the bay to attack invading ships. They could reach up to 18km.

La ratonera: tunnels created to give shelter to Spanish soldiers and to trap the enemy (by means of being built with crevices in which the Spanish soldiers could hide to attack invading soldiers trying to pass through the tunnels to reach the general's quarters)

The exit from the Ratonera

The hospital

Shelters to hold gun powder

View of where the general from the Spanish army used to live

The next stop was Las Bodegas de la Aduana. This long building used to hold 20-something jails in the colonial era, and has now been converted into 20-something shops for tourists.

The next few pictures are of the wall surrounding the city, and a couple other random sights from the return leg of the tour.

A random shot of a carriage driver feeding his horse.

I am just giving a brief overview of the tour, since it would be absolutely impossible to recount 4 hours of Cartagenian history on this blog. Feel free to look up any of the above for more info! Now onto the rest...

La Ciudad Amurallada: Downtown Cartagena at Night

The second night we were in Cartagena, Julian and I decided to go out on the town for a romantic evening. We had our friend David at the reception desk recommend a restaurant (La Vitrola- the best restaurant in town) and make reservations for two. The restaurant was located in the old part of the city- the central part that is walled-in. By some remarkable stroke of luck, we not only got reservations, but there was a fantastic Cuban band playing at the restaurant! Not only that, but the maitre di sat us at the best table right in front of the band. He told us that everyone wanted our table, and that in fact it had been reserved before we made our reservations. I have no idea why he decided to give the table to us, but he made sure to tell us that if anyone asked, we had to say that we had made the reservations days before! We had a fabulous meal and a bottle of wine, and enjoyed music a la Buena Vista Social Club. It was one of the most wonderful nights...and it only got better after dinner...

On our way out

The band!

Views of the restaurant

...I would say that the meal was magic, but compared to after dinner, well, nothing really compares. We left the restaurant and climbed into a waiting horse and carriage for a ride around the old city. Words cannot describe. The pictures below are just to give you the briefest idea of what the ride was like... it was so tremendous, that Julian even felt compelled to put the camera away and simply sit back and take it all in.

Cartagena at night is perhaps the most mysterious, magical, and romantic place I could possibly imagine. The streets are cobblestone, long and narrow, and the buildings are tall with overhanging balconies. Everything is softly lit, giving the atmosphere a secretive, surreal feel. The carriage took us on a ride all through these streets, occasionally happening upon a large plaza, where people were gathered sitting at tables and quietly enjoying the mild night. There were hardly any sounds to be heard, except for the clacking of the horse's hooves on the road, and Julian and I were both stunned into silence for the entirety of the ride. Out of everything I have seen on this trip, this carriage ride at night is the one thing I could recommend, without a doubt, that every single person reading this blog should do. As I said, words do not describe. It was fantastic, in every sense of the word.

This is a rear view of the most expensive hotel in all of Cartagena: Hotel Sofitel Santa Clara. It is extremely old, and extremely sought-after by rich tourists. Marco, however, specifically did not make our reservations here because in its former life, this hotel was a hospital and morgue! Now, people relax where bodies used to be dissected and stored... talk about creepy! I'll take the private beach over that any day...

Our carriage!

After three days, two nights in Cartagena, I am sad to say that we had to leave. Before our trip, the whole world told us that three days in Cartagena was more than enough, and that staying longer would leave us bored. Well, I think that might only apply if one is not staying in a five star hotel with a private beach. We ran into two wonderful Argentinan couples who were staying in town, and told us that after two days they were more than ready to leave. Those traveling salesmen did not leave them alone for a second, whether they were trying to eat or to enjoy a beach, and they couldn't take it anymore! Julian and I, however, could have happily stayed for a few days longer to walk the streets of the old city, enjoy the hotel's beach, and relax in the Caribbean heat.

Now, we are back in Bogota and the weather is that of early fall. It's actually a rather nice change (I love fall weather), but Julian and I are both still dreaming of Cartagena. Especially that horse and carriage ride.