Cartagena de Indias

Last week I went to Cartagena for the second time, it is probably one of the most beautiful and most visited places in Colombia. The city has quite the history, it was first founded in 1533 and due to a fire which destroyed most of the wooden houses only stones and bricks were allowed to be used as building materials. Cartagena has also suffered from a lot of pirate attacks through the years, since the harbour was used as a storage place for all the goods until they were shipped overseas. Yes, quite an interesting history.

Well, anyways, Mateo's parents went there for one week to participate in a medical congress and I decided to tag along. Seeing the city from a tourist point of view, it's mostly divided into two areas; the old city and the new city. The old town is protected by thick colonial stonewalls, meant to protect from outsiders. Inside the walls there are idyllic small streets with colourful houses with their pretty flowery balconies. It just makes you happy walking around the old town and it's the best (the only) way to get to know it. The hotel where we stayed is called Hotel Santa Clara. It is really beautiful and it has everything you need; big pool, great service and even a resident toucan called Mateo. Santa Clara is a former monastery from the 17th century, completely remodelled and one of the best hotels you can find it Cartagena.

The new part of the city is on the peninsula of Bocagrande, which is filled with luxury apartments, hotels and all the food- chains you can imagine. We went there one day to walk around and to have lunch at the famous "Kiosko el Bony". It's a small restaurant on the beach, nothing fancy, but the food is amazing!!

Unfortunately all the pictures I have are taken with my phone, since my camera suffered from some moisture-accidents thanks to the strong AC in the room and the humidity… I will write more about Cartagena another time!