Day 516 – Medellin

Exploring Medellin

Today we had an early start as we needed to be at the Alpujarra Metro Station around 9am for a highly recommended free walking tour. As we went to the meeting point, we were once again impressed with the metro system in Medellin.

Real Walking Tour

The Real Walking Tour is the name of the popular free walking tour. We were at the meeting point early and had to wait until 9.15am for the tour to start. The guide was very professional and informative. 

After taking us to an old train station, we were told about the history of Medellin. This went beyond the cartels and Pablo Escobar. The guide was very open, and kept giving us opportunities to ask questions about anything.

The highlight of the tour for me was Plaza Botero (Botero Plaza). This plaza is full of pieces by the famous Colombian sculptor, Fernando Botero. Near the plaza, we had a small break with some delicious empanadas and sugar cane juice.

The tour ended just before 1pm at Parque San Antonio (San Antonio Park). The tour actually ends at the San Antonio Metro Station, but we wanted to explore more of the city by ourselves, so we gave the guide a tip and left. 

Botero Plaza

We headed back to Botero Plaza for a lunch of pre packed sandwiches, as we people watched. The park was very busy with both locals and tourists. After lunch, we went to the free museum, Palacio de la Cultura (Palace of Culture). 

There was a nice gallery and a few rooms housing exhibits with information in Spanish. We went upstairs to the rooftop, which gave us nice views of the surrounding Medellin.

Museo Casa de la Memoria

After this, we walked to Museo Casa de la Memoria (Memory House Museum). This is a powerful museum dedicated to the victims of conflicts. 90% of the exhibits are only in Spanish, so we couldn’t get a full effect, but the small snippets that we could understand was horrible.

The museum was mainly about the victims without any references to who or why the murders were done. The museum goes into several civil wars, armed conflicts and the cartel wars. It also portrays a community who is over the violence and just looking for reconciliation, which must be so hard to do without any real justice.

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While we were inside the museum, it started to rain heavily. After a while there was thunder too so we waited inside until the rain subsided.

Rest of the day

There were probably better ways to get back to our hostel, but we wanted to keep it simple, so we walked to La Playa Metro Station. Luckily the rain was light for most of the way. We caught the metro back to Aguacatala, before walking to our hostel.

We purchased some coffee to warm our bodies up. As we were there, the night staff member started chatting with us. He told us about his experiences growing up and recommended some things to do in the area. 

We decided to have an early dinner back at Santafe Shopping Centre. Here we found a restaurant called Sushi Light. We didn’t know this until we were seated, but they had a 2 for 1 deal on Tuesdays, which was amazing. The meal was very satisfying.

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After which, we walked back to the hostel to sleep. Back at the hostel, we had to chase up some missing laundry items and then deal with a leak from the roof onto the bed. We told the receptionist, and they had someone seal the roof and give us new bed sheets.

Travelled January 2020

Main Expenses

• Metro – Aguacatala to Alpujarra – 2,310 COP (~$1 AUD) per person
• Metro – La Playa to Aguacatala – 2,310 COP (~$1 AUD) per person
• Dinner – Sushi Light – 45,000 COP (~$17 AUD)