Rashel Abroad: 24 Hours in Cartagena

Rashel Cedeño De Abreu
Mar 6, 2020
3 min read

CARTAGENA DE INDIAS

Colombia is a beautiful country in South America, famous for its vibrant music, its caribbean beaches, and the cheerful people. But today's point of interest is in the country's most important colonial city, Cartagena de Indias.

Cartagena was founded by the Spanish in 1533 and served as a main port, which made the commerce of the city boost. It is now the perfect spot for tourists that love to learn more about South America's history, and it can be perfectly done in 24 hours, just as I did.

La Ciudad Amurallada (The Walled City)

Because of the big amount of gold that was transported through this city, it was constantly attacked by pirates and enemies of the crown, so to defend themselves, they decided to build walls and forts that still stand up and are preserved to this date, which takes us to our first destination:

The Walled City is the colonial district, there are many tours that take you through the streets, but it is perfectly safe to go on your own. The plazas and building's architecture is well-conserved and there is many people showing Colombia's culture to the tourists.

El Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas (San Felipe de Barajas Castle)

This is a landmark of the city that could no go missing from the list, as it is also a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. This is a fortress, and it is a very intimidating place to see from the base. It looks enormous and as you walk inside of it, it transports you to the old ages as it was built approximately 400 years ago.

El Monte Popa (Mount Popa)

The next stop is to a mountain that is next to the castle. At the top, there is a convent with open doors for tourists to see the panoramic view to the downtown of the city and the sea next to it. I would recommend going up not only to see the beautiful religious complex that has a lovely garden but also for the view to the city. There is no other place to see it but from here.

Las Bóvedas (The Vaults)

These structures form part of what used to be dungeons in forts but are now gift shops and boutiques very famous in Cartagena.

Palacio de la Inquisición (Inquisition Palace)

The Inquisition Palace was built by the Catholic Church in the 16th century and now serves as a museum to show all kinds of torture devices they had for prisoners. It is famous as it is very appealing for tourists. I did not enter, but the outside facade is very impressive and there is a guillotine where people always take pictures with their heads in it as (for some reason that I don't know) it has become very popular to do in recent years.

Other monuments and landmarks of the city:

Monumento a las Botas Viejas de bronce (Old Boots monument completely made of bronze)
La India Catalina: a monument in honor to an Indian lady that served as a spanish translator.
Torre del Reloj (Watch Tower): the big entrance of the colonial district has a building with a big watch in it.

PLUS:

For those who want to enjoy from the Colombian nightlife experience, I have the perfect plan for spending the night with salsa music and the main alcoholic drink: Aguardiente, a liquid made of sugar cane with strong alcohol levels that Colombians drink in shots.

Rumba in Chivas:

There are thousands of tours in Cartagena that let you go on a chiva bus, the historically common transportation in Colombia. A chiva is what they call a bus with big windows and painted with bright colors colors, but the experience many sites offer is a trip around the city inside the bus while people drink alcohol and listen to salsa, to later take them to a nightclub to dance and enjoy.

Trust me, this is THE most fun thing to do for adults in Cartagena (it doesn't have to involve the drinking part). Salsa is a big part of Colombian culture and everyone is always willing to teach you how to dance to latin music.

Colombia is always a good idea for experiencing the Latin American vibes, and they always make the tourist feel welcomed!