CARTAGENA

 We said "good riddance" to our apartment this morning and by 0900 we were on an 18 passenger van for the start of our four hour drive to Cartagena.

We first drive to (and through) Barranquilla before carrying on to Cartagena. I really paid attention to the drive and noticed that the road ( and villages on the road) are full of garbage until after Barranquilla whereupon it gets much cleaner.

We arrived at the bus depot here and were soon on our way to the hotel.

Once checked in we walked to the main part of the central historical district. This city is simply awesome.

We had asked the hotel people for a restaurant recommendation and went to it. It was very busy but also very expensive so we just had a basic meal. The food was very tasty.

Later on Caro wanted to buy some fruit from a street vendor. The yellow fruit in the photo below is called Pitaya. It is quite tasty.

The part of the city we are in is wonderful. Our hotel is just inside the old city walls. The streets here are TINY with barely room for one vehicle ( and even then it is slow going). I noticed a lot of electric motorcycles in the area as well.

The following photo is taken from the city walls (note the cannon in the foreground). It shows a sailing ship in the harbour and the skyscrapers just south of us.

Our hotel has a roof terrace with an open air jacuzzi. I took the following photo from the jacuzzi. Note the people walking along the city walls and in the background ( essentially under the umbrella) is the main fort located across a section of the bay. After our city center walking tour tomorrow I want to go there.

Our hotel; photo taken from the top of the city wall. The jacuzzi tub is located on the left side of the roof. 

Our room faces the back and is heavenly. The bed is king-size, the air conditioning is great and the room is QUIET!!