Cartagena, Columbia

Today we have reached Cartagena. This city is a real mix of old and new, and has a great beachside sign.

Cartagena de Indias is the undisputed queen of the Caribbean coast, a historic city of superbly preserved beauty lying within an impressive 13km of centuries-old colonial stone walls. Cartagena's Old Town is a maze of cobbled alleys, balconies covered in bougainvillea, and massive churches that cast their shadows across leafy plazas.

The city has basically two distinct faces, the walled colonial city, which is truly amazing and still has many of the old colonial cultural sites, along with restaurants and shops as you would expect; and Boca Grande, a long strip of 21st century hotel towers and condos fronting onto the white sandy beaches of the carribean.

Inspite of all the new development taking place, Cartagena's 500 hundred-year-old coral stone forts and its walled city are admirably intact and represent some of the finest examples of civil and military architecture of the Spanish colonial era.

The Castillo de San Felipe is a fortress built in 1657 by the Spanish for protection against pirates while shipping gold out to Spain. Just the name Cartagena conjures up romantic images of adventurous deeds and times.

Cartagena is a colourfull bustling city that offers the casual visitor the romance of the old spanish colonial era, along with the vibrant and exubrience that is modern Columbia.

Colourfully dressed local women abound around the tourist hotspots, but beware, they expect payment for any photographs, and everybody has to make a living.