Exploring Medellin, Colombia

Medellin is the second biggest city in Colombia and a beautiful one. Most people probably still associate it with Pablo Escobar and his drug empire, as it is shown in the TV series Narcos. In the 1980s Medellin must have been a very violent and dangerous city, but it has made an impressive turnaround. 

Today it is a very safe and nice place to live. Medellin is called the "City of Eternal Spring", because it is always warm, but never very hot. This is because it is in the tropics, but on a relatively high altitude.

This Saturday I saw two of Medellin's most well-known attractions: the cable car and the electric elevators that connect the city to some of its poorest shantietowns.

In the 1980s you would probably not have dared to go into Comuna 13, which reminds a bit of the famous favelas on the hills of Rio de Janeiro, as it is built on the hills that surround the Medellin valley.

But the Escaleras Electricas have transformed the neighbourhood into a popular tourist destination, although the main purpose of the elevators is to make it easier for the inhabitants of Comuna 13 to commute into town. Because of its turnaround, Medellin was named the world's "most innovative city" in 2012.

It is quite weird to go up by various escalators that could be in a fancy shopping mall to the simple brick shacks of a shantytown.

This slide is a monument in memory to a boy who was killed by a lost bullet from a shoot-out between rivalling gangs when he was seven.

Another way to reach the rough outskirts of Medellin is the MetroCable, a cable car that is part of the city's modern public transport system. You can directly connect from the MetroCable to Medellin's metro network. 

Also the MetroCable was mainly built to make it easier for the inhabitants of the poorest neighbourhoods on top of the hill to reach the city centre, but nevertheless it has developed into a tourist attraction.

Hovering above the city in a small cabin is a spectacular experience - and you get it for the low price of a metro ticket, even for a round trip up and down the hill.

La Ciudad de La Eterna Primavera is definitely worth a visit!