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

Plaza de la Aduana is south of Alfiz Hotel and the Plaza we walked through to reach Plaza de los Coches from our hotel.  It is only 300 meters from the clocktower and the two plazas almost merge as one. Plaza de la Aduana is a large paved plaza and was originally used as a… Continue reading Plaza de La Aduana

Day 11 of our trip had so much packed into it.  As I mentioned before, this was the day we walked 16 km.  After arriving the previous day and being somewhat overwhelmed with the vibrant city life, things were much quieter when we ventured out the following morning for our tour of the city.  There… Continue reading Plaza de Los Coches

The walls that surround the old city of Cartagena are magnificent.  The 11 km stone walls, up to 20 meters thick were built by the Spaniards in the 16th century and encircle the entire historic core.  They were built to protect the city from pirate raids, but being militarily impregnable, it has perfectly preserved one… Continue reading The Old Walls Of Cartagena

I briefly mentioned our hotel in Cartagena, the 300- year-old house, in my Day 10 post. Alfiz Boutique Hotel is such a tranquil place to get away from the busy Cartagena streets and relax in the courtyard. The lush planting made a lovely private spot to sit and have a coffee. This is looking down… Continue reading Alfiz Boutique Hotel

Our final days in Colombia were in Cartagena.  I have to say, after the quiet places we had visited and even compared to Bogotá, it was quite a culture shock.  We arrived late afternoon and our first venture out from our hotel was full of colour, sound and action.  Our hotel was only a block… Continue reading Vibrant Cartagena