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Published: January 2nd 2016
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Bogota for a day - how many things Matt can do??? On the way back to the USA from my work trip, why not do a quick trip to Colombia? Matt gladly joined and had most of the first day to explore Bogota. The best way to quickly see the city -
BIKE RIDEEEE! Of course, one has to stop by Bogota's most famous museum -
Museo del Oro. I went to it a few years earlier and as a woman who likes jewelry, my imagination was carried away by seeing all the gold artifacts that could have become interesting pendants and necklaces!
Monserrate (among top five things to do in Bogota on trip advisor) is another great stop 0. It is a mountain that dominates the city center of Bogota and one can go up and down in a cable car. Incredible views, beautiful church, very peaceful!
While waiting for me to arrive, Matt also made it to
Zona de Candelaria, the older part of the city with spanish colonial style architecture. Now it is the province of young artists and bohemian students. In Bogota, there are several zones. Zona G - one of the main business areas
Bike ride Colombia Bogota
The best way to see the streets of Bogota -bike! of the city. Zona Parque 93 is one of the most upscale neighbourhoods with top class hotels, top restaurants, cafes, shops, and music and dancing in the evening. Although we never made to it, Usaquen neighborhood is apparently worth a visit. It looks like a small local town and has a lot of artistic and boutique shops. Zona T or zona Rosa is one of the most famous. It is great for night life and has more shops, restaurants, and hotels. I was staying at zona Rosa a few years ago and still remember having great margaritas and watching people party on party buses! However, this zona is also a solid 45 minute taxi ride from Candelaria, and not all taxis are willing to make the journey. Here comes the side note - we were pleasantly surprised that Uber worked in Bogota and we used it for all rides.
Matt and I met later in the day. Walked along street 7 (
Septima). It is the main avenue and is most often pedestrian only. It is worth a go just to see Bogota's "interesting" characters up close and personal. This street turns into a huge street market on certain days
Wanna hat
Bogota bike tour of the week.
For dinner, we followed our friends' advice and went to
Andres Carne de Res. It is not just a restaurant! Decoration and ambiance is unique. The night we went, this place had a Halloween theme going and we were thoroughly impressed! We had a cozy table and were served drinks in ENORMOUS cups. Food portions were, I would say, very decent size and tasty. Throughout the evening, there were regular time intervals where Halloween typical characters (vampires, witches, walking dead, etc.) would walk around the tables and hallways, dance for a while with some of the guests, make a passage through the small stage. Creepy and definitely adding to the experience!
We stayed at the
Hilton hotel for the night in chico neighbourhood and found it quite decent. I remember very interesting design and good breakfast.
Cartagena - Maria, calmed down. You are finally here! Maria got another of her wishes come true - visit to a colonial Cartagena! Cartagena was the first Spanish colony on the American continent and one of the first sanctuaries of freed African slaves in the Americas. In 1984, Cartagena's colonial walled city and fortress were designated a
Colonial Cartagena 4
very romantic setting UNESCO World Heritage Site. And....it didn't dissapoint!
First of all, after a cold and dry Bogota in October, Cartagena's humid hot climate was a true welcome. Surrounded by the Carribean sea, the city beaches (although not in the best shape) boast unbelievably warm waters. Matt and I could have been sitting for hours and don't get even close to being cold.
The city has basically two main parts where tourists go: the
colonial walled city (or old town), which is truly amazing and has many fancy restaurants, clubs and hotels; and a long strip of hotel towers and condos fronting onto the beach, known as
Bocagrande.
For our stay, we chose
Hotel Caribe. Good things: Olympic size swimming pool, we understood there are nice upgraded rooms there (which we didn't get), fawns and parrots around, great location on the beach, close to old town with cheap taxi rides. Not so good things: we got one of the old rooms (a bit smelly and just old old furniture), not so great service, not so great food served (at least for lunch), not so great beach since it is public.
We have found that the old town
is best visited by foot. Considering the relatively small size of the old town, it's filled with places to eat. We relied on tripadvisor for our picks. Mostly, it worked out.
Don Juan restaurant was highly recommended, but on the night we went, it was closed for private event. So we were rerouted to a neighbour -a more contemporary
restaurant Maria. The menu looked great and different from other places- ox tail tacos, sea bass with feta, great cocktails. We had slowly cooked beef and drinks as well as salmon appetizer. Our own rating - 4+.
La Vitrola restaurant is known among locals, but rather expensive. It is considered one of the best restaurants in town. Cuban ambience, good food, high prices. They had, we believe, 5 different dishes with grouper. Doesn't seem like you can go wrong with any. Great ambiance, live music, and great food. Our own rating - 5.
Cartagena continued - dodgy, but memorable island tour! Some decisions didn't work out. On our second day, we picked a dodgy tour to
Islas del Rosario. Generally, we both agreed that this one was a memorable let down (despite pretty high reviews on
tripadvisor). We were offered a price for the tour which included transportation to an island and a meal. Once on an island, we had to pay extra for the entrance and any additional activities like snorklenig or entrance to an aquarium.
The beach access was very limited and less than spectacular. We had to wait and then almost fight for a seat on the beach since all seating was taken up by earlier groups. The food was served in one of the beach huts at the indicated time (we were given food vouchers). By then, we were starving and food seemed decent. Apart from that, we tried to stretch a few hours doing nothing. Let's just say - when our time to come back hit, we were ready to go! On the way back, additional people were put on a boat and we felt like sardines during 1hr and 30min ride. A cherry on top - a real rain downpour that accompanied our small boat pretty much throughout the whole trip back. Any cover that was there brought temporary relief....everyone was pretty much soaked with rain water when our boat finally hit the shore.
A side note -
Seats
Seats we finally won in Rosario Islands...Matt gets half seat we understand there are other "more upscale islands" and private resorts owned by big hotels. In most, you are allowed to spend a day on the beach. Every tour boat will probably have differences in the agenda for the day. So, inquire before choosing.
Dance lesson and more walking On the next day, we were booked for a dance lesson. Really interesting to learn bachata and salsa moves from local teachers. But as always, without practice, one forgets easy.
For the rest of the day, we walked around, had local snacks and deserts, Maria tried to find jewelry for presents. We had dinnder at
Porton de San Sebastian, which came recommended by the locals and tripadvisor. Small, cozy place with a great view on the street and good food. Our rating -4.
Next day, we said good bye to Cartagena. But, this is one place I could see myself return some day again.
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