Wednesday Jan 10, 2024
Hi All! We were in Cartagena, Columbia today and will be docked here over night and spend the day here tomorrow as well. Most people (all but 84 of us) will be getting off the ship and new people will be boarding. We decided to do a “back to back” cruise to see the other cool ports for the next 8 days.
Today felt even hotter and more humid than yesterday. The high was 90 but it felt a lot hotter than that. We took a guided tour with 4 other people from our ship with “Dora the Explorer”. She was this cute little lady who lived in Cartagena her whole life. Very knowledgeable and proud of her city. And what a beautiful city it was!
We started up on the highest point in the city where La Popa Monastery was. It was started by Franciscan monks many years ago and several still live and serve there. The views down to the city from there were beautiful!
After that we visited the San Felipe de Barajas Fort which is one of the most important forts in South America since it watched over all the gold and riches in Cartagena and kept the Pirates away.
Next was the highlight of the tour which was walking around the old walled city, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. There was amazing architecture everywhere and each of the side streets were so colorful and pretty. And they had all these plazas where people gathered that had lots of history to them. Names like Plaza de Santa Teresa, Plaza de Bolivar, Plaza de La Aduana and Plaza de los Coches. The only downside of all this beauty and history was having to say no constantly to all the street vendors. Some pretty much followed us the whole time! We never felt unsafe but they did not stop!
We then visited the Palace of the Inquisition where they held people that were captured during the Spanish Inquisition mostly for religious reasons. They actually made the “dungeons” into 23 handcraft markets! Of course we bought stuff there!
Our next stop was the San Pedro Claver Church. Saint Peter Claver was a Jesuit missionary known as the patron saint of slaves, African missions and interracial justice. St Claver spent his life serving enslaved Africans who were brought to Columbia during the 17th century.
We ended our tour in a cool part of the city called Getsemani. We walked thru this bohemian enclave filled with street art and murals on buildings. It was a lot more laid back than the old city and had a lot less street vendors!
Another cool thing about the port was that right next to the ship was a free tropical garden with monkeys, flamingos and lots of colorful parrots. We spent time there observing all the animals both before and after our tour.
We got back on the boat and had a nice lunch. We were so exhausted from all the heat we just rested for the afternoon!
We were able to get a reservation at Sakura, the Pan-Asian restaurant that’s our favorite. Tonight I had the New Zealand lamb chops and they were delicious. They brought them out under glass and when they lifted it off all the smoke came out. Very impressive presentation! Kathy had the lobster pad Thai (of course!) and it was good as well.
After dinner we went to the show that featured Jazz music by the Explora orchestra and finished the night listening to piano. No slots were pulled tonight since the casino is closed in port.
Tomorrow we are taking an excursion with the ship to the outskirts of town to visit with a local family and hear what life was like in the old days here. Should be fun! Happy Hump Day to all!
The Wandering Italian 