Cartagena

Cartagena is one of those cities that is like having a time machine. At least when it comes to visiting the “Old City”. The formidable, limestone battlements that surround the original part of the city contain all of the old buildings that comprise this UNESCO World Heritage site. Cartagena was the gateway to South America way before any official countries were established. Being situated on the Caribbean Sea, it was a prime target for Pirates….

…..Wait for it…….

…..of the Caribbean!!!

          Sorry! I couldn’t pass that one up!

          Actually, it was not Captain Jack Sparrow who gave them fits, it was none other than Sir Francis Drake, one of the more famous “Privateers” of the times. All that meant was that he had a “License to Steal” granted by the Crown (England).

 Privateers were just legal pirates, provided with Letters of Mark to show the authorities when they got caught. Until the Crown wanted to do away with them and then they conveniently forgot that they had issued said letters.

Just ask Captain William Kidd.

          No, don’t do that, the Crown had him hung!

Can you tell I like Pirates?  (September 19^th is “Talk like a Pirate Day”, so mark your calendars…. Aaaarggg!)

Anyway, we boarded our bus with 38 of our shipmates and Raphael, our Guide, for a short jaunt into the Old City. We walked on that wall that was constructed after Sir Francis Drake ravaged the city (Oops!) in 1586 and made off with all of it’s gold. Spain finally got tired of the French and English pirates attacking the city that they poured an enormous amount of money into building the defenses of Cartagena. In today’s money it would be equivalent to two trillion (yes, that is correct!) dollars!

          This neighborhood of Cartagena probably has 85% of it’s original buildings, mainly constructed in the late 1500’s and early 1600’s. The streets are narrow, I mean, like how wide is a horse and cart anyway? But that obviously just adds to the charm of the area. Colors abound, reminiscent of other Latin American islands and cities. Practically everything is made of either limestone or coral with the favorite wood being mahogany, better suited to use because of its resistance to rotting and termite infestations. Note in the photos how most of the balconies are made from Mahogony.

Being just a few degrees off the Equator, the flowers and plants were nothing short of magnificent! Shown below!

The people here are friendly and polite, even the “Entrepreneurs” that sell their wares on the streets will not bother you after a smile and a polite, “No, Gracias” is spoken to them.

A small part of town is named Getsemani, yes it takes its name from that famous garden just outside Jerusalem, Gethsemane. Seen here just before they take down all of their Christmas decorations. Their Christmas Season ends on this Monday.

          We spent about four hours in total on that tour and when we were deposited back at the Cruise Terminal, we found ourselves in a rather unique area set up by Cartagena’s Tourism Committee. They have established a walk-through zoo of sorts that has mainly the birds of the area for our enjoyment. It was a fun way to end the morning.