Day 8 - Cartagena, Colombia

Friday January 10

Going to dock today in Cartagena, Colombia. The schedule says from 7 am to 1 pm. I am a bit upset with myself that I didn't do any preparation. We didn't book any excursions whatsoever on this trip. Just flowing along.

Kate and Dave had not decided what to do and told us to just go ahead. So that is what we did after breakfast. From the ship we walked through port facilities. There was a cafe, gift shop and a kind of zoo. Quite nice. On the other end was a swarm of people like taxi drivers and people offering tours. Angelica offered a tour in a little bus promising to have us back at 11:30 am, in time before the ship leaves. Sounded good. Only $20 per person. And it ended up really being quite good. 

Ha-ha, this is actually Angelica's sister Julie. There must have been at least two small busses. She spoke quite good English and explained things well.

Here just a bit about the place: Colombia's Cartagena is often called the "Pearl of the Caribbean." Founded in 1553 on the site of an indigenous village, Pedro de Heredia named the city after his hometown of Cartagena, Spain.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, Cartagena served as a commercial gateway to South America, with gold leaving for Spain and slaves arriving from Africa. These riches brought pirates such as Sir Francis Drake, whose sacking of the city led to the construction of the massive fortifications we see today.

I was a second too late to get a photo of the donkey pulling the cart. 

First stop. The San Felipe Castle, the largest fortification in the city, built by the Spanish in 1657 to protect the city from pirate attacks. It was enlarged in 1762 and became the greatest fortress the Spaniards ever built in any of their colonies.

Next stop ... a shopping opportunity ... 

... where James nicked his arm somehow and bled. The guide had to find some band-aid which must have been very old because we had problems getting it out of its paper. It did the trick until we were back on the ship.

Driving to the next stop I could not believe my eyes when I suddenly saw out of the window Kate and Dave walking along. They had taken a taxi into town. I opened the window as fast as I could (not easy but in time) and they saw me. The bus let us all off around the corner and they were invited to join our group. But since they had already been in the cathedral we were going to they continued with their own outing.

We were now in the Old Town which is within the city walls. Spanish-Colonial architecture buildings can be seen here in all stages - some have been restored, while others have been left in disarray. Very very cute.

I had a fascination with the doors. So many were really fancy. We were told that the doorknockers have special meaning (but I forgot what).

Santo Domingo Church was built at the end of the 16th century and is the oldest church in the city.

Should have taken a video here. A painter painted very nice seascapes on mirrors the size of half a sheet of paper with his fingers in just minutes. Very amazing (not that I felt I needed one).

The Cathedral of Cartagena was completed in 1612 and is mostly preserved in its original form. A service was in progress so we didn't feel of walking around and seeing it properly.

Christmas decoration leftover.

Very clever statues.

Standing on a part of the Old City Wall.

Back in the bus and delivered to the port exactly at 11:30 am.

We were parched and stopped to have a refreshment before going on the ship.

Remembering the dice game from the previous day I went into the gift shop to find some. Oh, these were cute. They only came as 2 or 3 or 4 or 5, not as 6. So I had to buy a 5 and a 3 just in case some dice get lost under a table or so.

And then back onto the ship.

Lunch on deck 9. Kate and David were there before us and even had a dip in the pool on deck. They thought it would be refreshing but actually was almost too warm for them.

Not having been brought up in the USA must have been the reason why none of us four thought the Entertainer Jeff Burghart was funny. It seemed that everybody else liked him. But we tried out the new dice and of course played more cards - after taking a long time with dinner.

Forgot the step count again:

Thursday = 8,931 but much more because my Fitbit run out of juice

today = 14,859

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Just got an email from my friend Irma sending me this LINK! about door knockers in Cartagena. So cool. Thanks, Irma.