Castillo de San Filipe de Barajas and The Beach, Week 3 - Part 2

 We can see this massive fortress from our balcony in el Cabrero. We walked by it once to make sure we knew how to get there. We’ve watched people walk up and down and all around in direct sun. But we had a plan. We waited for Brianna to arrive, loaded an App audio guide on our phones and went at 8:30 am in hopes of missing bigger tour groups and the pounding heat of  mid-day. We got there before the booth with the map to match our app was open so our first 30 minutes was a bit confusing because we took a wrong turn, but once we got on track, it was smooth sailing. 

(The App is by Tierra Magna. It was $6.99 CAD and worth every penny.)

I am not going to bore you with all the historic details of the building or the two big attacks it was involved in - you can read all about it here: wikipedia Castillo_San_Felipe_de_Barajas

But I will share my favorite thing: the photos!!

Our initial walk-by to make sure we knew where we were going. It's very fast and simple to get there from our building.

Ready for the tour!

One of the highest lookout points. What a view!

From this view, you can see our building. Second big white one from the left. 

They had all angles covered.

One of my favourite photos from the day. 

These stairs were added on for tourists. 

Once completed, the fort had a capacity for 62 cannons, as well as cisterns, sentry boxes, ramps and a complex system of tunnels designed to install explosives that could be detonated beneath the feet of the enemy.

Listening to our audio guide in any shade we could find. At 9:30 in the morning, it was already 30 degrees. 

Learning about the tunnels. We had just been through one tunnel and decided to stay out of this one. Mike wasn't a fan. 

Just our luck, we chose a day to tour when there wasn't much wind. Any other day this flag is flying straight out. 

One of three opportunities to purchase a hat on the ramp up to the fort. There were so many hats, I couldn't get them all in the frame!

We spent 2 hours here and could have easily spent another hour because the audio guide had more to tell us at each stop than we chose to listen to. That's another bonus of going at your own pace. We were hot and ready for breakfast. 

Week 3 with Brianna, part 1

It was so great to have Brianna with us this past week and she had a blast. She learned a number of Spanish words/phrases and wasn't the least bit afraid to use them. I suppose every language is the same in that the way you are taught to speak is not exactly how it comes out of the mouth. So as we're trying to perfectly say "buenos dias" the replies to us are more like "wennadee". Interesting also that the majority of people who greet us don't even bother with the dias, tardes, or noches. They simply say "buenos" as a greeting, similar to the way we would say "mornin'" to someone as opposed to "good morning".

Coffee. Strange as it may sound in Colombia, we've had trouble finding coffee that we like. We're told that all the best beans are exported to other countries. The restaurant pictured above, Epoca, apparently fancies itself the place to be for coffee. They actually bring the coffee to your table and have you smell it, like wine, before brewing it. A bit pretentious, you say? No argument here. Neither of us cared for the result.

I did love this sign though.

Some of the wild (and not so wild) life caught by Sarah and her camera. (a little pocket sized travel camera - the Sony HX99. Fun fact, the camera can transfer low res files directly to the phone for quick and easy sharing)

I love this picture of Brianna looking over the old city from our perch in the bar El Balcon.

Everybody gets their picture taken with this sculpture, which appeared in an earlier blog post.

Just in case you forgot which city we were in. Sarah is squeezed between the R and the T.

The spectacular Hotel Santa Teresa. Not in our price range.

Sarah and Brianna with Jesus at the Mona Lisa Pub, one of his two jobs. Jesus arrived from Venezuela two years ago and  speaks excellent English. He is a great guy, full of personality, and made us feel very welcome. 

Brianna and Sarah adorning doorways in the walled part of the city. Beautiful ladies amongst beautiful colours.

This place is called Las Bovedas (the vaults) and is located right underneath the walls of the old city. You can't see from this angle but between each set of arches is what used to be cells for prisoners. Each vault is now used for, surprise surprise, gift shops for tourists. As far as I could tell, each of the approximately 25 shops is identical. 

On Brianna's last night we took a horse and carriage to Cafe del Mar. I wasn't sure I wanted to use this method but the horses looked quite healthy and I read a few articles by vets and people who have raised horses and they convinced me that horses are perfectly happy to pull wagons. We're about to go through the wall to the old city.

I realize that it's hard to appreciate a sunset simply through someone else's picture but this does look pretty amazing, right? This was taken at Cafe del Mar where hundreds of people come each night to witness this. The DJ actually played soft and peaceful music as the sun dropped into the Caribbean and, oddly enough, all the people gathered there applauded as the sun disappeared.

There's more ... but we don't want each post to get too long. Week 3 Part 2, Castillo San Felipe, the beach and a hidden park coming soon.

Hasta luego!

Week 2 --- From A to Z (Agua to Zumba)

As you might expect in a climate where it is 30 degrees every day, water is important. Who knew it came in bags though?

Some of the colourful streets and buildings of Cartagena.

Our favourite coffee place in the middle of the walled city. Sarah made me pose inside but didn't anticipate the photobomber stepping in front.

We met Alyssa and Oscar at a place called the Clock Pub on Saturday when we went to see the NFL playoffs. She is from upstate New York and he is from Bogota but they have settled in Cartagena. A wonderful couple and even though Oscar looks quite fierce in this photo (he is a former MMA fighter) he is extremely kind and thoughtful.

Sarah and friends Buba and Kim went on a chivas bus which is basically a party bus that drives around the city while its inhabitants drink and sing. I was at the library researching the history of Colombian cuisine.

I finally tracked down my old workboots that I lost in high school. Actually this sculpture is entitled Los Zapatos Viejos (The Old Shoes) and is a tribute to Cartagena poet Luis Carlos Lopez.

Castillo de San Felipe, which we can see clearly from our balcony, was named after Philip 1V of Spain and was built in 1536. A very popular tourist attraction but we're waiting for visitors to arrive before we actually go in.

Notice that the guy on the motorcycle has an extra helmet over his left arm. These guys are all over the place and will pick up people and take them to their destination for a fee. Unlicensed taxis, really. When I first saw so many motorcyclists honking at what I thought was always women, I assumed they hadn't got wind of the #metoo movement but it turns out their motives are purely for monetary gain. Thanks to Alyssa and Oscar for setting me straight on this issue.

I include this photo for two reasons ---- first, it's a pretty cool mural and second, through some trick of photography it actually appears that I have a bicep of some substance.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez is from Cartagena and wrote such classics as Love in the Time of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Cartagena is a popular stop for cruise ships.

Sunday night at Plaza de la Trinidad is public zumba time. Hundreds of crazy people dancing like maniacs and sweating like, like, like, (please insert your own simile here cuz I got nothin'). I'm only sad that I didn't get to participate as I had to take photos and watch the purses. Darn my luck!

Hasta luego!