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Published: January 6th 2011
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Cartegena Columbia
Amazing morning, it is hot and muggy. Expected temperature today is 29C and very little cloud cover. We passed through a narrow channel called Bocachica which is 9 miles long to our berth. We slowly travelled through with Fuerto San Jose on our side and Fuerto San Fernando on the other. You can imagine the Pirates trying to come in here past these forts to raid Cartegenas great walled city, this happened over a period of 200 years.
This city was so good at defending itself that in 1741 when England attacked with 24000 men and 186 ships they were successful in defending against this great force.
We left the ship right at 9AM and walked through the terminal and a beautiful park. Once through this area we were bombarded by taxi drivers all trying to get us to go with them into the city. We were excited to get a van that would carry all 6 of us for $15 each, but then they added another couple from LA which did not match our style. He immediately started complaining and tried to run the tour the way he wanted. Since we were 6 against his
2 we insisted on our original destination which is the Old Walled City.
Our driver and guide Fernando was great, he spoke English well and was always laughing and cracking jokes. Fernando took the long way around through an area of old mansions that have been around for many years and have been restored and in use today. We drove by Fort of San Felipe built by the Spanish in the 17th century. We finally arrived at the famous walled city with its narrow streets and colonial architecture. Fernando must have connections as he arranged for parking and was talking with everyone; even all the police that had streets closed so that traffic could not drive in while the cruise ship was in port. We saw some amazing Catholic churches that have been around for over 300 years. I would have liked to go to the Inquisition Palace but we were only able to see it from the outside and could only imagine the horrors that took place here during the Spanish Inquisition. We then went into an area that Fernando said the first slaves were brought into America and this was where they were contained and auctioned off.
He also said that there is still a small population of black people here descendants from that time.
I enjoyed the walk and could have continued doing this for the rest of the day. The one place I would have preferred not to stop was the Hard Rock Café which took all the charm and romance out of my day. Our guide bought us all a beer here and probably expected us to buy more but I did not come to Columbia to see a place that could be anywhere!!! While there the LA lady complained to me that she was disappointed as to how dirty everything was here, I on the other hand was amazed at how clean it was.
We left the Café and the LA people finally got their way and our driver took them to the new part of town so they could go to an emerald factory( again not on my list of places to go). I went through as fast as possible and still be polite. After all that the LA lady said the emeralds were all inferior and she did not want anything!!!!
I approached Fernando and asked if we
could leave and go back to the fort that we had passed on the way to the old city, he agreed and we were able to get back to the older area and got some great pictures.
All in all I really enjoyed Cartegena and would consider going there again as there was so much more I would have liked to see.
We arrived back at the ship at 2. We changed into swimsuits, made a drink and went to lounge by the pool. With a band playing Bob Marley tunes beside the pool we slowly left Columbia. Life cannot get much better than this.
We relaxed the rest of the day, dinner and an early bedtime is in order. Tomorrow Panama canal!!!
Footnote Sorry guys again the program messed up the 1st couple pictures all ended up with the wron captions. This was our entry into the harbour. The old fort still guarding the entrance of the channel.Our berth and one of the tugboats. Also this was an on the water fuel station. I was amazd at all the containers and how beatiful the city looked from a distance. The mustard yellow street was all
market stalls with some good tourist shopping.
FOOTNOTE The statue in front of the fort or Castille is not Sir Francis Drake but Blaz de Lezo who was responsbible for that battle success against the Bristish. He was a great man and lost a left leg and eye and his right arm in three separate battles before he was successful in that British invasion.
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