Once over the bridge, we took a different route back through the old street of Cartagena. You can’t easily get lost in the old city, because if you keep walking, eventually you find the old wall at the end of one of the streets.  The street names are on beautiful plaques. I mentioned before about… Continue reading One More Stroll Through Cartagena

After our tour of the city, we walked up to Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas.  I did post some pictures on Day 11, but time was limited to write in detail. Cartagena was built on several islands at the end of a bay.  The marshes that originally surrounded these islands were later filled in… Continue reading Castillo de San Felipe de Baraja

Colombia is known for its high-quality, intense green emeralds and 60% of the world’s production of emeralds comes from Colombia.  Emerald is the name of a specific green variety of the mineral Beryl.  During the formation of the Beryl, tiny amounts of a metallic oxide changed the colour and the name of this mineral.  The… Continue reading Emerald Museum

Cartagena was such an important place of Spanish power, that an office of the Inquisition was founded there.  The Spanish Inquisition was established in 1478 to enforce Catholic hegemony in Spain and was especially used to persecute Muslims and Jews.  Eventually they extended the Inquisition to its colonies and Cartagena’s office of the Inquisition was… Continue reading The Palace of the Inquisition

Plaza de Bolivar is the main city plaza with a statue of El Libertador (Simón Bolívar) astride a horse.  Simón Bolívar is a national hero of much of Latin America, being the key protagonist in expelling the Spanish from Latin America and his statue is found in many cities all over the world.  He has… Continue reading Plaza de Bolivar

Plaza Santo Domingo is full of tourists and has the famous Fernando Botero’s statue, Mujer Reclinada ("Reclining Woman").  There are a lot of street vendors and restaurants offering seating in the center of the square.     The Convento de Santo Domingo, was founded in 1551 and is the oldest church in Cartagena.  This is… Continue reading Plaza Santo Domingo

San Pedro Claver was born in Spain in 1580 and joined the Jesuits in 1602, where he was assigned to travel to Spain’s colonies in the Americas.  He arrived in Cartagena in 1610, but spent six years studying in Bogotá before returning to Cartagena in 1616, where he was ordained as a priest. Claver’s mentor,… Continue reading San Pedro Claver

Plaza San Pedro Claver is one block from Plaza de La Aduana and is a popular gathering point for locals, with many public benches.  It has a stunning church, but I will put that in another post. The square has many avant-garde sculptures paying tribute to the street activities by artist Edgardo Carmona. Apparently, they… Continue reading Plaza San Pedro Claver