Cartagena - One of Columbia's finest Cities

In order to visit Colombia in your own yacht, as well as the usual customs and immigration formalities, you require a cruising permit and must also temporarily import the yacht - and it must be done using a local agent.  Our paperwork was duly completed, and our stated departure date arrived so unless there is an important reason you can't leave, you have to sail within 24 hours - so despite the windy forecast, off we set for Cartagena, 110Nm along the coast.  We woke to the sound of wind howling in the rigging, fortunately we had lots of help to leave the pontoon (thanks Hugh and Paul) and all went well - we headed off just under Genoa, and quickly realised it was a job for our tiny Staysail instead.  We were doing 8kts with 14sq m of sail - in fact when we furled it in completely in order to gybe we were still doing 5 kts!  We were arriving at our destination way too early and were going to arrive in darkness - not ideal!  The wind gods were on our side - the wind dropped completely at about 0300 and we gently motored through the narrow 'small vessel' entrance into the Cartagena Bay.

 

Cartagena!  We checked the charts to make sure we'd not arrived in Miami by mistake ...

 

We weren't sure that the Cruise Ship arriving in the Commercial Port on the other side of us would have been quite so impressed with their view at sunrise!

The City of Cartagena was originally founded in 1533 on the site of a Carib settlement, but was destroyed by fire 20 years later - after that time, all buildings had to be constructed of stone, brick and tile.  The city prospered and naturally became a target for Pirates, including our own Sir Francis Drake who sacked the port in 1586 then graciously agreed not to raise the city to the ground for the payment of 10 Million Pesos!

Following this attack, the Spaniards built protective forts and over the next 200 years the 13km city wall was constructed - the town flourished, and declared independence from Spain in 1810 - unfortunately this resulted in 9 years of fighting during which time 6000 inhabitants died - finally, in 1819 Simon Bolívar's troops defeated the Spanish and the country reclaimed it's independence from Spain.

The old city really is the highlight of any visit to Cartagena - not only is the architecture stunning, but it really is a bustling and fascinating warren of tiny roads (too many cars) street vendors, restaurants, shops and museums.

 

Approaching the inner city walls, yellow Torre del Reloj (Clock Tower) can be seen behind the walls.

 

Fruit and Coconut Water vendors

 

Many of the vendors are licensed, with photo ID's at their plot.

 

I'm sure they had exactly the same hats for sale in the Mediterranean!

 

Definitely one for the Tourists!  Selling Mochillos whilst wearing the traditional white outfit of the Indiginous People.

 

Not sure if any traditional costumes actually looked like this, but she was very colourful.

 

And rather less traditional ...

 

Modern statues depicting the traditional way of life in one of the Piazzas.

 

A food vendor heading for his plot.  A traditional way of earning an income that is still very much in evidence both in the touristic areas of the old city and in the modern city itself.

 

Despite the 30+ Centigrade temperature, fresh fish is sold on many street corners in the less 'touristy' areas of the old town.

 

The Cathedral - to give it's full title, The Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of Saint Catherine of Alexandria - the building was attacked by Sir Francis Drake during it's construction, but fortunately it survived

 

One of the many well preserved old Colonial buildings in Cartagena

 

 

A door knocker

 

And another one - of a more indiginous style

 

The Catholic Faith is much in evidence - Cartagena was  one of the centres of the Infamous Spanish Inquisition, a 200 year period of persecution and torture imposed by the Catholic Church on all those they deemed 'Heretics'

 

This Courtyard, with a beautiful view of the Cathedral, is in the site of the Court of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, founded in 1610, and contains a replica Guillotine and gallows - the court here investigated, tried and punished almost 900 people over a 200 year period.  Amongst other 'crimes' the Catholic Faith considered witch craft, heresy, sorcery, reading of forbidden books, bigamy and Judaic practices to be punishable acts of Heresy.

 

The city walls - not quite as impressive as Dubrovnik, but very nearly, especially with the fantastic 'Miami' background.

Despite the city walls, the threat of foreign invaders was constant - in order to stave off a possible British attack, work commenced on the San Felipe Fortress - construction continued for 200 years - the last attempt to take Cartagena was made by the English Admiral Edward Vernon in 1739, he was conclusively defeated at the San Felipe Fortress and no further European attempts have been made on Cartagena.

The fortress is huge, and dominates the city - one of the more interesting features is the network of tunnels that connect the various areas of the fortress with the city.  Explosives could be detonated beneath the enemy's feet in the case of an attack.

 

One of the centry look outs, and to the right of the photo the entrance to one of the tunnels.

 

Inside one of the tunnels..

As threats of attack receded and systems of warfare changed, the fortress fell into disrepair and was even used as a quarry.  The Nation took it over in the late 1880's, and in 1928 repairs and reconstruction began.  It remains in state control, and the revenue from the entrance charges is used to pay for the ongoing maintenance.

 

The Colombian flag flies proudly from the one of the higher Battery's of the San Felipe Fortress.  The city walls can be seen in the distance, surrounding the old town.

We have spent several very enjoyable days in Cartagena, not only visiting the old city, but we have also been able to catch up with our walking friends again - Annie and Hugh on Vega  as well as Paul, Jayne and Lily on Delphinus.  Lovely as it is here, we really want to get back into clean water and peaceful anchorages.  We plan to leave tomorrow for the San Blas Islands, we just have to choose which of the 365 we should visit!