Day 463 – Cartagena

Friends in Cartagena

Today was our first full day in Cartagena, Colombia. We had a very lazy day. We woke up at 9am and had breakfast at LuKa Cartagena Hostel. The food was good and the coffee was super strong. The dining room is on the 4th floor, with a nice balcony overlooking the street.

After breakfast, I continued backing up our photos to the cloud. My hard drive is showing intermittent issues, so we are trying to back up the photos before it fails. It’s a super slow process, mainly due to the Go Pro videos.

By the time we left the hotel, it was already two in the afternoon. We went to a close by restaurant, Quero Arepa, which had delicious food. This might be a no brainier for most people, but I learnt that blackberries are not black inside.

Later, we got in touch with a couple of locals, that we met in the Colca Canyon (Day 441). They agreed to show us around town later in the day.

Historic Centre of Cartagena

Our friends met us at the hotel after dark. We didn’t realise that we were located so close to the historic centre. All four of us walked to the central point known as Monumento Torre Del Reloj (Clock Tower Monument). The area was crowded with tourists and locals. There were old buildings and even horse drawn carriages going around, which gave the area an old world feel.

Afterwards, we walked to Iglesia de San Pedro Claver (San Pedro Claver Church). It’s a famous church, due to the work that San Pedro did with slaves. Close by is the Baluarte de San Ignacio, which has nice views of the pier.

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Following this we walked to Plaza Santa Teresa, which is home to expensive restaurants. We did not stop here for dinner.

Our friends tried to take us to a pizza place, but it was packed. Instead we went to a really large restaurant called San Valentina. The food was good, and the servings were massive. We were upstairs, but there was a live band down stairs. The place had a really cool atmosphere.

After dinner, we walked past the restaurant, where our friends will get married next year. It looked like a super cute place.

As the night went on, we ended up at Serrezuela Centro Comercial, which is a shopping centre. The top level has a really cool auditorium and food court. On top of that, there are nice views of the city. We chatted for a while as we ate ice cream. 

Afterwards, we said good bye to our friends as we went back to the hotel. It’s so good to be shown around by locals. They were full of so much information about their own town. We look forward to returning the favour one day in Melbourne!

Travelled November 2019