Caribbean Cruise - Cartagena, Columbia

Our third stop on our Holistic Holiday at Sea Cruise in March, 2019, was Cartagena, Columbia. Since we’d never been here, we decided to sign up for one of the off-shore excursions sponsored by the cruise ship, the “Walking Tour of Old Town Cartagena”. As it turned out, I think we spent more time on the bus than we did on foot, being transported from one “walking” spot to the next. Our tour guide, Ana, was from the area, and she narrated our surroundings as we drove through the town, speaking both in English and Italian, so everyone on the bus could understand her. Her native tongue is Spanish, and I think she mentioned she spoke at least two other languages as well.

The first place we stopped was at the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, a stone fortress built by the Spanish during the colonial era. Next was a 15-minute stop in a shopping area set up for tourists. It was very bright and colorful and I would have loved to be invisible and walk through all the little shops. But you couldn’t take two steps without being pleaded with to buy something, and it made me uncomfortable to have to keep saying “No, gracias”, so I didn’t linger long here. 

Then we were back on the bus and finally into Old Town, where we were able to get out and walk around for about 30 minutes while Ana explained what we were seeing. There were some centuries old churches, as well as other old buildings, and very colorful architecture. The brick church is the Cathedral of San Pedro Claver built between 1580-1684, and the Peach/Yellow colored adobe structure is the official Cathedral of Cartagena, built between 1577-1612. I loved the colorful architecture of the area, everything so bright and pretty!

The “fruit ladies”, or the women who walk through the village with fruit baskets on their heads, are called Palenqureas (as they originally came from a village called Palenquera) and are an integral part of the history of this area. If you take their picture, you are supposed to give them $1. They will take the basket off their heads and make you a beautiful fruit salad right on the spot for a small fee.

That was the extent of the walking tour, at which point the bus brought us back to the port. Just before reboarding the ship, we passed through a small parkwhere we saw dancers, parrots, sloths, and spider monkeys. That was a delightful surprise!