As difficult as it was to leave Bogota, we were excited to get to the old city of Cartagena de Indias. We were looking forward to a little bit of sun, sand and beach. That adds up to relaxation!

We like to have our trips be a combination of sightseeing, adventure and relaxation and we manage to do a good job at that. Sometimes it makes us rush around a little but at the end it’s all worth it. Getting to see, meet, talk to and understand the people whose country we are visiting is truly something that we should all strive for.

As you fly into Cartagena, you are immediately surprised and impressed. We thought that it was a beautiful old city dating back tothe 1500’s with an old walled inner city and yet you see a city with beautiful high rise office buildings and apartments. It immediately reminded me of Panama City, Panama. Beautiful white buildings lining the Caribbean Sea with beach as far as the eye can see.

Where do we start? Let’s get some well-deserved rest and relaxation at the beach for a few hours. The Hotel Las Americas checked us in immediately and we were sitting by the beach within 3 hours of landing at the airport. Whatever you do, do not invite the beach locals to purchase their wares or their services. They are just not of good quality and the foot massages are terrible! That should tell you what we did!

The first night in Cartagena was wonderful. The old walled city is absolutely amazing and very European-like. Well, that’s because the Spanish built it over 500 years ago in 1533. During the Spanish colonial period Cartagena served a key role in administration and expansion of the Spanish empire. It was a center of political and economic activity due to the presence of royalty and wealthy viceroys. This city was used as the base for trade for goods and gold collected in the Americas prior to shipping it to Spain. This is why the city has an 11 Kilometer wall surrounding it – to protect it from pirates!

The Old City has many restaurants and boutique hotels within the walled boundaries. The streets are active and really does not end until 11 or 12 o’clock midnight. Wood balconies and the always present flowers line the streets as you walk or travel by horse drawn carriage. Street vendors and entertainment along with the perfect evening weather will have you enjoying every minute of your evening.

The next day consisted of a guided motor tour that started out overlooking the city at Pie de la Popa, a convent sitting atop a mountain built in the early 1600’s. The views of the city and surrounding areas are magnificent. It is to this day still a pilgrimage location for many Colombians. From there we cut across the city where at the base of the San Felipe Castel are two enormous boots of bronze, in the honour of a poet from Cartagena, Luis Carlos Lopez, who said he liked Cartagena better than his old boots. Everyone should take a turn and take a picture inside the boot with the castle in the background.

Next was San Felipe castle which took over 120 years to complete, overlooks the city and was acoustically designed so that invaders could be heard walking the halls from quite a distance. It is the largest castle built in the Americas. In its over 400 years of existence it was never conquered.

Finishing again in the Old City, time for dinner and perhaps wine at one of the restaurants. We sat watching the sunset atop the wall at a small restaurant enjoying the weather, the people and the ambiance of this beautiful coastal Colombian City.

Our last day consisted of a boat trip to the Rosario Islands to do some snorkeling and swimming in the clear blue-green waters of the Caribbean. We left from a downtown dock and after about an hour’s ride stopped at some coral reefs to see what we could find under the sea. The boat was fully equipped with all the necessities and they had plenty of help to assist everyone on and off the boat and pointing out the fish and coral along the way. Lunch at an island beach with restaurants, tiki bars and hostels too numerous to count was also included. This was the only place that I drank the water and I regretted it later. Don’t drink the water in Colombia!

We spent the better part of the afternoon prior to our flight home at the hotel. We certainly enjoyed our trip and if there weren’t so many other places on my bucket list I would return. The people were friendly and helpful and I did not feel stressed or in danger at any time during our Colombian adventure.

Make sure you take a look at the photo gallery to see some of the terrific things we did and saw during our trip.