CARTAGENA: City, History, Sea and Color in one place

juanpimentel (49)in #travel • 6 years ago

Urban art in the Getsemaní neighborhood

CITY
The first thing you will notice in Cartagena is that the city has an easily identifiable area because it is full of high and luxurious buildings, that is the tourist area of Bocagrande and Laguito, where most hotels and apartments are located. The contrast they generate with the colonial infrastructure of the city is not bad, but surely there is not where you'll find what you're looking for.

View of the city from the walls

To get into the real Cartagena you have to know its neighborhoods. Near the walled city, by the entrance of the Clock Tower, is the famous Getsemaní neighborhood, very colorful and bohemian. It is worth going through its streets to see the typical of Cartagena, there you can enjoy an egg arepa with Kola Román or dine in a luxurious restaurant, you will find five star hotels and hostels for backpackers, you will see beautiful murals of urban art and you can enjoy from the nightlife of the neighborhood a few meters from one of its 3 churches. And it is that Cartagena is like that, a city of contrasts, where the scarcity of resources rubs shoulders with exuberant luxury throughout the city.

Other neighborhoods you can visit are El Cabrero, where the Rafael Núñez House Museum (former president of Colombia) and the Manga Quarter are, where you can find arabesque-style houses like the creator of the famous Kola Román drink

Urban art in the Getsemaní neighborhood

So you stay a short or a long season is impossible to explore all corners of the city, but if you go to a lookout you can observe it in its entirety. The best place for this is the Cerro de La Popa, at the top is a convent and to enter you must pay around COP $ 5000 (USD $ 1.7), from there you can appreciate Cartagena in all its extension. The convent, although famous for its infrastructure, personally did not impress me, but for the view it is worth the entrance.

View of Cartagena from Cerro La Popa

HISTORY
The history that surrounds Cartagena is its main tourist attraction. The walls dating from the late sixteenth century, were built to protect the city from continuous attacks since it was the most important port from where the riches of the continent to Spain. As of today, these walls are very well preserved and have been declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. If you have time, take a tour of the walls from Plaza Santa Teresa to Plaza de las Bóvedas, during the whole trip you will have the sea on one side and the beautiful colonial streets on the other.

Walls

On the other hand, the Castillo de San Felipe was built as a military strategy to visualize and attack enemies quickly. Its construction also began in the sixteenth century. During the tour that can last about 3 hours, you can admire the impressive building and even enter through some passages (not suitable for claustrophobic), you will know the details of the history of its construction and you will have a nice view of the city.

San Felipe Castle

SEA
As I mentioned, Bocagrande is the tourist area of Cartagena that has a huge and popular beach with the same name. This beach is not so pretty and it's always full of tourists, so I want to show you other options.

Although it has gained great popularity, Isla Barú is still one of the most beautiful beaches in the city. It is an island, but there is a bridge that allows access by land. I recommend that you go by land, it will be cheaper than if you choose any of the plans by boat.

If you do not want to get away from the city so much, you can try going to the beach of Castillogrande, it is very close to the tourist area and the sea is quite calm. From there you can also take a boat that in just 10 minutes takes you to Punta Arena, a beautiful beach on the island of Tierra Bomba, where you can also enjoy the view to the city.

Isla Barú

View of the city from Punta Arena

COLOR
The streets of the walled city are what give the city color, due to the facades of the houses and flowers that adorn its balconies throughout the year. If you do not want to miss any corner of this area, I advise you to do the route of the squares, you can do it on foot or rent a bicycle, as I am a lover of hiking I booked a whole day for this tour and yes it was worth it , not only for the squares, but also for the streets that run between one and the other. There are at least 11 places to visit and although most are very close to each other, the most remote are the most beautiful. Do not stay without going to the Theater Hereida, much less to the Plaza San Diego that is in the neighborhood of the same name, I must admit that the latter was my favorite area of the walled city. Here I leave a link where you can find a map with the location of the places.

During this route you can also take advantage to enter the different museums that are in some places, in most you have to pay but not much, and some like the Gold Museum, located in the Plaza de Bolívar, are free entry.

Walled City Street

San Pedro Claver Square

Walled City Street

To finish, I must tell you that the contrasts of Cartagena do not remain here. You will also notice a difference in the places during the day and night, especially in the walled city. The colorful and colonial city during the day dresses in romanticism and movement during the night, so my advice is to visit it at both times.

Cartagena at night