Cartagena is another walled city and is the oldest in Colombia. Cartagena was used as a collection point for the treasures that the Spanish collected while conquering the indigenous of South America. Once collected, the booty would be packed aboard giant ships and transported back to Europe. Originally built in 1533, it quickly gained wealth and notoriety, which attracted those pesky plundering pirates. After a couple of initial attacks and damage to the city, the walls were erected in an effort to protect the Spanish interests. This set the stage for this beautiful enclosed ancient cityscape, which has been well preserved since its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984. Despite the beautiful walls, the plundering continues within the city as the vast majority of the buildings have been converted into tourist shops and swanky cafes. Regardless of the invaded consumerism, the tight streets and overhanging balconies still lend the small town a cozy charm.
While in the area of the old city, we actually stayed in the neighbouring beach town of Bocagrande. The beachside gathering is really only a group of three parallel streets that run along the water and, although it has a spattering of hotels and restaurants, it caters heavily to local tourists as opposed to international travellers. We struggled to find food that could satisfy our vegetarian diet and servers that could understand our malnourished Spanish but we managed. The beach was not the most pristine but it was packed with locals and provided great people watching, especially during sunsets when the police herded everyone out of the water and a whole day of drinking had everyone drunk in good spirits.
Three nights in the area allowed us to see and do everything that we wanted to, and from here we were off to Medellin.
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