March 4th-5th, 2015
My first tourist activity in Cartagena was a visit to the
San Felipe fort, a massive stone stronghold with numerous cannon lines up on a
hill across an inlet from the historical center of the old town. It’s an impressive structure which stood
watch for a few hundred years over this vital Spanish harbour. Unfortunately I had spent an hour trying to
find a post office before getting to San Felipe and I was now close to noon and
the sun was beating down. Luckily I had
my authentic Panamanian hat which I had primarily purchased for the sailing
trip and had hardly worn but it came in handy here. I paid the extra for an audio tour and spent
almost 2 hours wandering around. There
were some great views from the top of the fortification and I was also
impressed by the myriad of tunnels inside.
The view from my accommodation:
Approaching the fort:
The view from the top:
The odd cannon is still around:
The backside ramparts:
Still rockin' my Panamanian hat...but not often:
One entrance to the tunnels:
Inside the labyrinth:
Spelunking:
I sought a bit of reprieve from the heat in the nearby air
conditioned San Felipe mall before crossing Getsemani into the historical
center for a short wander before meeting up with the other Aussies. It was Jazmin’s birthday so we wanted to
celebrate it. We had some beers in the
restaurant at their hostel and later, when the bar opened at 10 pm, we ventured
up there. I left shortly after midnight
as I needed to get up to get my yellow fever vaccination but I guess the others
continued on until 6 am!
Even with some explicit instructions I found on the Web it
took me a while to locate the vaccination centre (which didn’t surprise
me). But once I did it was quick and
relatively painless to get…and free! The
Aussies had received their vaccinations back home and the yellow fever one had
cost them about 70 bucks, which is probably what it would run in Canada, so I
was happy to have gotten a bit of a break.
I walked over to the historical centre for some more aimless
wandering. It is a pretty area with
lovely old building that are well maintained, many of which contain fancy shops
but there seemed to be a lack of cafes or restaurants where I could find some
breakfast. Sadly I ended up eating at
Subway! Afterwards I chilled out in a
lovely park and then visited the Caribbean Naval Museum, which was okay but
everything was in Spanish.
Approaching the Historical Center:
The main entrance:
The main square:
One of many lovely streets:
I like how this ship transports you back in time...
One of the view nice parks where you could sit down in some shade:
Just leaving the old part of town:
Looking back towards Getsemani:
The rest of the day was pretty chilled, as was the
evening. Cartagena’s not a bad city, but
I’m ready to move on.
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