Dean & Ginny's excellent adventures...  Main Adventure Page

Panama Cruise--2012: << Part 1  << Part 2  << Part 3  << Part 4  << Part 5  << Part 6  << Part 7 << Part 8
 << Part 9 << Part 10 <<  Part 11 Part 12

 Cartageña, Colombia consists of 26 islands and several forts--the most famous and the biggest tourist attraction is the old walled city.

As we sail in, we see all types of boats from fishermen's canoes and overloaded party boats to a Chinese junk and The Virgin Carmen , the patron saint of navigators.
We thought we'd walk to the walled city within the city, but it would have taken us too long, so we took a taxi and a tour guide over to the town. We weren't intending to hire a guide, but it turned out well. His name was Bill (see the photo below.) and he was born in Jamaica and raised in Brooklyn, NY, but he has lived here for 24 years.    Our first stop is the Spanish fort Castillo San Felipe de Barajas outside of the walled city.
	<< Statue of Don Blas de Lezo, a Spanish admiral who lost an arm, an eye, and a leg in service to the colonies, and famously led the defense of Cartageña against a vastly superior British force in 1741. Like many tropical forts, these was mostly constructed of blocks of coral. This is quite similar to the old Spanish fort in St. Augustine, FL.
Bill took us to this market that used to be a dungeon for slaves. We told him we were not interested in shopping. We walked up a sloped roadway to the top of the wall and these houses are outside of the wall.

At least two types of egrets work this puddle between the wall and the beach.

We look at the streets inside the wall and they look interesting, so we head down with Bill leading the way. (We'll meet up with the taxi in a couple of hours on the other side of the city. A car comes into the walled city through this small gate.

Watch how the three street performers enticed this couple who originally gave them a wide berth. It's expected that if you take a photo of a street performer that you pay him or her a dollar.

We stepped inside the small doorway cut into the giant door of a church--the one with the buttresses in the photo above.

We loved the play of light amongst all the arches and then we stepped back out through an open arch into the bright sun.

A statue of Rubenesque proportions was attracting a lot of attention.

The maintenance and upkeep of old buildings generate lots of jobs.

Hard to tell the time on this church wall sundial when the sun is not shining.

There were a lot of people in and around a town square.

Simon Bolivar is thought of as the father of the country and hero of Cartageña. 

Bill continues to lead us through the town. Here on the road next to the square, was an impressive break dance performance.

Also across from the town square is the place where the horrific inquisitions took place.

Want to take a photo with a decorated mule?  And down this street, workers unload roof tiles and other laborers work on restoring these old buildings.

Outside the Museum of Modern Art, there are a dozen metal sculptures of everyday life.

Now we are reaching the far side of the walled old town. Dean photographed a girl's collection of shells from the beach that she had arranged in this alley between the wall and this building.

One of the shore excursions was a buggy ride through the walled city. Many people from our ship (and the Island Princess also in port with us) took this easy way around town. We had enjoyed the tour with Bill (in the white shirt in the above photo) and it turns out that he knows absolutely everyone in town.

We walked out of this main gate with the clock tower (The O is for Oeste (West) on the weather vane.) and Bill turned around and took us back under the wall. The skies opened up and it rained hard for ten minutes. 

After the rain, we walked back out to find our cab and snapped one last town photo of the Pegasus horses overlooking the harbor. 

It's heavy traffic back to the dock area, and when we got there we noticed all the tropical birds there.

There were some interlopers like this grackle that were also feeding here.

We watched these baboons and the iguana battle for some orange-colored fruit. The iguana was whipping its tail to keep them from the food.

And so we're ready to leave the land of Juan Valdez and so is our neighbor, the much larger ship, the Island Princess. Note the movie screen on the top pool deck and all those rooms with balconies. We think our ship is big enough.

And the rainbow over Cartageña bids us adios as this is our last port.  A sleek escort boat follows us out for a few miles. 
Two days at sea until we reach Ft. Lauderdale. 

This was another wonderful chapter of Dean and Ginny's Excellent Adventures.

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