Cartagena

---

Our Arrival

Our bus from Santa Marta arrived in the bus terminal at 12:10pm. Walk though the building and go out by the entrance where there is a big terminal sign over the road. This is where you can get a taxi or the bus stop is signed on the other side of the road. We caught a Metrocar bus that had 'Centro' on the front. It cost COP$1,700, pay the driver as you get on. It left at 12:25pm. There was a lot of traffic and we arrived in the centre at 1:20pm. We got off the bus at the Monumento India Catalina. Just after you see the castle the bus goes over a bridge and the monument is on the other side at a bus intersection. From there we walked about 4 blocks down to calle Media Luna where there are lots of places to stay.



Where We Stayed

Hotel Londres - Calle Media Luna near the Parque Del Centenario. COP$35,000 for a double room with private bathroom, TV and fan. She originally quoted higher but dropped the price when we were going to walk out. This room was tiny. It was the smallest room we have ever stayed in. There wasn't enough room for the two of us to stand up at the same time and when you sat on the toilet your legs were in the bedroom. The shower drain was blocked and nearly flooded the room. The only reason we stayed there was because we had walked around for ages in the heat and hadn't found anything less than COP$40,000. On the plus side the hotel had a balcony and good internet.

Hostal Yemmis - carrera 10 near calle 31. COP$30,000 for a double room with bathroom, TV and fan. We had the 'small' room in the hostal but it was a lot bigger than the last place we stayed. Internet worked in the room. The main door was often kept padlocked and you had to ring the bell to be let in.



What We Did

Walked around the walled city. There are loads of pretty buildings and streets to wander around and old churches.

Visited San Felipe Castle - a quick walk over the bridge from calle media luna. COP$17,000 entrance fee, pay at the ticket window on the right. I'm not sure if it was a mistake but when we visited we received change for the two of us from a $50,000 note all in $2,000 notes and it was $4,000 short when I counted it. When I pointed it out the cashier quickly put it right. The middle window is for an audio guide COP$10,000 for one guide with 2 pairs of headphones. I would recommend the audio guide as there are no information signs inside the castle and it explains the history well.

Went to the beach. There are beaches to the right of the San Diego area which are closer to town but not as nice as the beaches at Bocagrande although neither are particularly good looking. You can walk to both. Prices of goods sold on and round the beach areas in Bocagrande tended to be higher than in the town.

Watched the sunet from the wall on the West side of the centro historico. There are a couple of very overpriced bars on top of the wall or you can buy a beer from the venders. The sun didn't really ever set when we were there, more just disappeared into the haze.



Where We Ate

Along the main road Calle Luis Carlos Lopez up to Avenue Venezuela there are lots of people selling food and drinks. We got fried potato and beef balls (papas) for COP$800, long sticks that tasted like a croissant with cheese in the middle COP$800, and arepas for COP$2000. The seem to be a couple of different types of arepas aroud town. Some get cut open and they put butter and grated cheese inside and some are already have the cheese (and sometimes meat) already mixed in. The latter type are a lot nicer. If you get one of the first ones wait until the cheese melts before eating and it makes it nicer.

Also on Avenue Venezuela we got a burger from a roaming van playing a tune.

Around the clock tower you can buy set meals of chicken/beef, rice, vegs and pasta salad in takeout boxes for COP$4,000 for a big portion. Look for the people with lots of pots. The lady doesn't work Fri/Sat/Sun.

People roam around town selling set meals in polystyrene boxes for COP$4,000. Hard to spot but sometimes they have huge bags full of them or are set up on random streets.

Also around town are lots of people selling orange or lime juice. COP$1,000 for a cup.

There is an Olimpica supermarket on carrera 10 just over Avenue Lemaitre and an Exito supermarket on carrera 9 just over Avenue Venezuela.

The shops on Calle Media Luna sell large bottles of beer for COP$2,800 and have seats inside. There is one on the corner with Calle Luis Carlos Lopez with lots of tables and seats as long as you don't mind the extremely loud music. On Calle Media Luna opposite Cafe Havana is a shop called CM shop with COP$2,800 large bottles of beer with a couple of seats and a TV where we watched the world cup. They also sell fried and baked snacks. Opposite this shop is a shop called Donde Hector. They charge COP$2,700 for a large beer and COP$2,000 for a 6 litre refrigerated bag of water.

Bags of water seem to be more expensive around here. 360ml bags from street venders sell for about COP$500 each but are much needed in the heat.



About Cartagena

Be ready for lots of traffic and horns.

The City outside the walls was dusty and not great when we were driving though it from the bus terminal but as soon as you went inside the walls it was like a different world.

There is a tourist information office in the plaza de la Aduana and a kiosk near the Torre del Reloj where you can get a not very good map of the City.

It is very hot around the town.



Where We Went Next

We caught a night bus to Medellin. To get to the bus station we walked to the end of Calle Media Luna and caught a bus to the terminal from the middle of the road, just before it went over the bridge. The conductor shouted 'terminal' out of the door. We had to check out of our hotel at by 1pm so we caught the bus at 12:53pm. We paid the conductor COP$1,700 each when he came around. We arrived on the main road near the terminal at 1:40pm.

We wanted to get a later bus so we didn't arrive in Medellin too early to check into a hotel so we sat in the terminal a while. We sat near where the buses to Medellin departed (to the right hand side as you enter the terminal) and the ticket guys were aware we wanted to go there so kept coming ut fares. We didn't want to leave too early so had plety of time to sit there and haggle a price whilst their buses left unfilled. We managed to negotiate a COP$100,000 fare on a 6:30pm bus with Rapido Ochoa. Still a budget breaking price but it was the lowest quote we had whilst sitting in the terminal for a few hours and letting a lot of buses leave.

Whilst there we went outside the terminal to the road to get some dinner as the bus station food was more expensive. We had a bowl of sausage, egg and chips for COP$3,000.

The bus to Medellin left at about 6:40pm. It was very nice with large comfy reclining seats with lots of leg room, a plug for each seat, individual seat back TV's with movies and music (although only 1/2 of them worked) and working (allbeit very slow) internet.

The road to Medellin was pretty windy and we moved seats as Gearoid's seatbelt didn't work and he was nearly falling off his seat. We later stopped and picked up more people so the bus was full but they didn't make us move back and the guys in our seats didn't use their belts anyway. We had a break at 1am and 6:50am for 25mins each and arrived at the terminal del norte in Medellin at 8:50am.

---

Photos

Bus ride to Medellin
Individual TV screens in the seats (although only half of them worked)

Bus ride to Medellin
Plenty of leg room