In the cab, driving from the bus station to our next dwelling, you wouldn’t have known Cartagena was a popular romantic destination with beautiful scenery, warm beaches and great food. The neighborhoods in which we had to drive through were pretty shady and run down. At one point, the cab driver had to scream at guys who were behind the cab and possibly trying to get at our bags in the trunk. But as we headed more towards the beach and inner wall area, it was definitely all that Cartagena had come to be known for.
We settled into the Casa Vienna which would be our home for the next couple of days. It’s in the Getsemani area and located close to almost everything. This time I had my own room and bathroom, and the Dos Miguels shared a room with a few others. After the long trip, I needed to freshen up and just settle in, so after unpacking and taking a nice long cold shower, we set on foot to adventure the walled city around us. The older part of Cartagena is the main attraction area which is pretty much the “inner wall” part of town. Here we found lots of churches, shops and restaurants all in a huge plaza area with many streets leading to the outer wall. The wall, also known as “Las Murales” was established back in the 16th century to protect the town from enemies. There is so much detail in the architecture, so much color in the buildings and churches, and lots of street life and beauty around every corner that you turn. I would say it’s a cross between Spain and New Orleans.
Cartagena was where we were to meet Luke and Kacey so until they arrived, we walked all around the Plaza de la Aduana and saw many things: The statue of Christopher Columbus, La Iglesia de San Pedro Clever, Plaza de Bolivar, Plaza de Santa Domingo (which would turn out to be the evening hangout each night), and a Hard Rock Café. These historical attractions were along the cobblestone streets lined with many restaurants and shops, from Prada to touristy souvenir shops, which at one time the touristy shops used to be the 23 dungeons built into the city wall. The streets were like a maze within the wall. Every corner you turned had something new to offer and take you deeper into the walled city. We made our way outside towards the beach and waded in the water for a bit. It was a beautiful view looking up and down along the beach and water. Along the south end of the beach you could see many high rise hotels. We named it “Miami” since it looked exactly like it! It of course intrigued us too and we hopped on the bus towards that area to explore more. We had no idea where we wanted to get off at, but we saw a Crepes and Waffles place and thought “let’s enjoy a nice little snack while we figure it out”. So yummy!!!! We headed towards the beach and found a cute little bar where we could have a drink, put our feet in the sand, and watch the sunset. The beach was still crowded with people and vendors, but everything was so quiet and still. And for a few minutes, It’s like there was a moment of silence for the sun to say goodbye. I took a deep breath and just had to pinch myself a little to realize that I was actually in Colombia on the beach.
We headed back to the hotel and ran into Luke and Kacey who’d just shown up. They had to stay at another place down the street, but we planned to rest for a bit, let them settle in and then all meet up for dinner. About an hour later, all dressed up and ready to go out, we started out with dinner in the walled area at a place called El Burladod de Seville. OMG was it good!!! Aye Rico! The sangria was perfect, the food delicious, and the music in the background just set the right atmosphere. I truly felt like I was in South America. And with full bellies we set out in happy spirits to find a local club for some dancing and fun. We danced for hours, socialized with the local crowd, and tackled quite a few bottles of the aguardiente that night – it was late to bed, early to rise….
On a side note: Manning had read online that explosives were found all around the city of Bogotá as retaliation for Ingrid and the hostages being rescued. Good thing we got out of Bogotá when we did.
