Traveling through Colombia - Stop #2: Cartagena

After our short 3-day visit in Medellin (see previous post here), we took a quick one hour flight to Cartagena with the domestic airline Viva Colombia.

Flights within Colombia are extremely cheap, and if you reserve long enough in advance you can get away with paying around $30 per person. Of course, the longer you wait, the more expensive it gets, but compared to Panama, flights are extremely affordable. For me it is cheaper to fly from Panama to Colombia, rather than flying from one city to another within Panama.

Anyways, back to our topic. My impression of Cartagena during the time we were there was not a 100% positive one, but I don’t want to influence anyone either way. I’m just going to give you my list of Pro’s and Con’s from what I’ve observed, and let you decide for yourself =)

Pro’s

It’s a stunning city, full of colors, culture and history.

Located on the coast of the Caribbean sea in the north of Colombia, Cartagena is a major port founded in 1533, and served as the main trading center between Spain and its former colonies. The goods traded via the port of Cartagena included mainly silver from Perú, and the city became a hub for the African slave trade. Cartagena’s prosperity which came as a result can still be observed in the beauty of its colonial architecture.

The riches of the locals who benefited from trading and shipping of goods and slaves also attracted the unwanted attention of pirates, who raided the city on several occasions between the 16th and 17th century. As a result, the Spaniards fortified the city, and you can still see the remains of the wall surrounding the old port of Cartagena.

Sites worth visiting include:

Cerro de la Popa
Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas
The Walled city of Cartagena
Cartagena Gold Museum
Palace of the Inquisition
Las Bóvedas
The Clock Tower

Con’s

Unfortunately I have more con’s than pro’s, and here’s why:

It’s way too touristy.

Get ready to be harassed by local salesmen, who will shove souvenirs in your face even when you say no. This really bothered me, as I like to be left alone while traveling.

Being a touristy spot also means that it is horrendously overpriced compared to the rest of the country. Carlos and I were searching for a nice place to have dinner on the first night when we arrived, and couldn’t believe the prices we saw on the menus. Even in New York City, you can eat out for cheaper, and get better quality food. I generally avoid touristy places for that reason, so Cartagena is a no-go for people on a tight budget, or generally for people like me who don’t enjoy being ripped off.

It is very hot!

If I’m saying this, it really means something! I live in the Caribbean myself (in Bocas del Toro, Panama) and therefore I thought I would be used to the climate. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I don’t think that I’ve ever felt this uncomfortable in the heat before (maybe once, in Athens in the the middle of August when the AC broke down), but boy, Cartagena is truly the oven of the Americas.

Every time we left our hotel room to go into town, we couldn’t wait to take refuge somewhere with air-conditioning. We even escaped in a shopping mall in the new part of town, just to feel comfortable for a while. This basically means that if you want to go for a walk, you have to wait for the sun to go down after 5.00 pm, and that you have to hide from the sun until then.

I personally will not visit Cartagena again, and it was a OK, I saw it now let’s get out of here kind of experience for me. My friends who are familiar with Cartagena had warned me about this, but I’m a stubborn person and like to always experience things for myself. I don’t regret the trip of course, and I know many people who unlike me have loved their stay in this city.

Stay tuned for the next post, where I describe our 3rd stop in Colombia: ## The island of San Andrés =)