CARTAGENA (Carribean Coast). A Trip to Colonial Colombia. 71 761 Km

If you ask anyone what you should do whilst in Colombia, I'm pretty sure they will tell you Cartagena cannot be missed. At least that's what everyone we asked said. They also told us that it was very hot there and they were right on both accounts.

Located up on the north coast of Colombia, the city of Cartagena is close to 500 years old and grew rapidly due to the gold deposits nearby. Unfortunately those same riches meant that it became a city targeted by pirates and as such the city has seen more sieges and attacks than most other cities on the coast.

Claire in one of the lookout posts on the wall.

Over time the Spaniards built bigger forts, some of which were destroyed, and also a massive wall around the city that mostly remains today. The 13km stretch encircles the old "inner" city of Cartagena while just a few kilometers away outside the marker of the "outer" city is one of the biggest forts in the Americas.

We started our time in Cartagena like many do. Wandering the streets. We were staying in the old historic centre so it didn't take us long to find part of the wall. From there we walked on top of the wall until we arrived at the old dungeons. They sit under one of the largest sections of wall and today serve as handicraft and souvenir stores.

After a brief walk through the stores and looking at what would have been the dungeons, we continued our wander through the old streets.

Cartagena has a well earned reputation for its colourful buildings but what I loved even more was all the plants and trees around the place. You would be hard pressed to find windows in the old town that didn't have some form of foliage extruding out of it.

Also, in certain streets, almost every house has a bougainvillea tree that would grow from outside the front windows, up along the windows and to the second story.

As we continued our wander around town we found women dressed in colourful flair selling fruit and posing for photos. It was hard to resist taking photos of these women and the fruit was a perfect combatant to the heat of the day.

Most of the tourism of Cartagena seems to come of the boats. Large cruise liners call into town regularly with multiple large group tours wandering around at any given time of the day. Like us, the typical stops include the many churches, the wall, the ice-cream shops, and the chocolate shops. Along the walk though you come across some great little statues and other art.

As evening draws the streets get busier. Though I suspect this is due to the cooling down of the day and people coming out of the air conditioned cocoons, the streets are packed with energy and lights and sound that you just wouldn't want to miss.

When you start to see the horse and carriages you know it must almost be sunset. They literally flood the main streets of the old town taking tourists through some of the most beautiful lit parts of Cartagena.

For me one the best places to sit and enjoy the atmosphere is at the torre de reloj and the plaza in front of it. Here you'll find the congregation of women selling fruit, stalls of local made confectionery, horse and carts, kids playing with a soccer ball or other toys, and people coming to chat together as the light fades away to night.

The crowds passing through the archway under the clock.

With our second full day we decided to get out and see a bit of the coast. It would be a while before we see the beach again so we headed out on a day trip to las islas de Rosario, a collection of some 27 islands that are spattered just north of Cartagena.

Our particular tour dropped us off at Emerald Island where we sat and enjoyed the sun for a little while before getting in a smaller boat to do some snorkeling on the nearby reef. After we returned from the snorkel it was time for lunch, some more relaxing in the sun, and then in the late afternoon we headed back to Cartagena.