Checking out Cartagena
Trip Start
Mar 09, 2007
1
3
169
Trip End
??? ??, 2008
Cartagena,
Colombia
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Todayīs plan was to basically explore the old town of Cartagena. We started out by walking on top of the city wall. The city wall is pretty cool because its more like a big stone boardwalk that surrounds the city and shields it from the outside. It was originally built after the city had been ravished by several pirate attacks, the most famous being the one led by the infamous pirate Sir Francis Drake. Towards the ocean side, there are only a few entrances that go through the walls.
A really late lunch and some beers led us over towards the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas. This is the fort outside of the old town towards the east of the city. I guess it was kind of a last stand kind of fort; apparently it was stormed several times but never taken. Pretty cool view of the old town and the other parts of Cartagena. Cartagena doesnīt only consist of the old town, in fact the old town is not that big and much of the actual city is outside the walls. There isnīt anything to see outside the old town however. Anyways, you get a great view from the Castillo. There is a huge flag that hangs above the castle walls which adds a nice effect. Unfortunately we couldnīt watch the sunset from the castle because there was so much cloud cover and mist along the horizon that it blocked it all out.
After a delicious dinner, and a nice nap (which we barely got up from), we headed out to Cartagenaīs flagship club, Mr. Babilla. Its a salsa club and is well decorated inside. To get a table you have to buy a bottle. Bottle service here is pretty cheap (especially in comparison to clubs in the US). A half bottle of rum ran us about 10 dollars each. We all got a bit of salsa dancing in. Its pretty entertaining to watch people salsa dance here. We had to get up early, so that fact that we were out till almost 3am kind of sucked.
Most people that come to Colombia, come to Cartagena, and most that come to Cartagena, go to the Islas de Rosario. The Islas de Rosario are a set of islands located about an hourīs boat ride to the west of Cartagena. They are known as some of the nicest beaches here in Colombia and are quite popular to go to. Earlier in the day we booked a boat ride out to the islas for tomorrow.
