Cartagena de las Indias - the Heroic City

We arrived in Cartagena on March 9th, then began the wait to free Hank from the port. For the first three nights we had a hotel with a view looking out over the thousands of shipping containers in the port and wondering "Where is Hank?". With the weekend and all the paperwork, it took 6 days to rescue Hank. On Tuesday, I drove Hank out of the container and parked him nearby while we waited for the temporary import permit and insurance. Finally I drove out of the port on Friday, March 15th.

But waiting for Hank allowed us to catch up on some emails and other business, write on the blog, do some reading, and see the beautiful city of Cartagena.

Cartagena is the most-visited city in Colombia. There are many tourists, but with good reason. Its historic center is full of colonial charm. Founded in 1533 and surrounded by a wall built between 1614 and 1796 to protect the city from enemies and pirates, Cartagena was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. The walls of the city are the best preserved walls in Latin America. Rising above the city is a formidable fortress, San Felipe de Barajas Fort. The fortifications of Cartagena survived many attacks by pirates and other countries, including the defeat of the British in a seige in 1741. The Spanish were greatly outnumbered. The British attacked with 186 ships and 28,000 men to 6 Spanish ships and 4,000 men. The British suffered 8,000 to 11,000 casualties, mostly due to yellow fever, and were forced to withdraw.

Cartagena was the second city in Colombia to declare independence from Spain in 1811. As a result, the Spanish attacked Cartagena and established a blockade that led to hunger, diseases, and loss of many lives. Cartagena finally succumbed but is remembered in Colombia as the "heroic city."

The second half of our week in Cartagena, we stayed at an nice AirBnB in the historic city center. The colonial yet modern buildings used to be the mansion of the viceroy of Spain in the mid-18th century. We enjoyed wandering around the city and eating at some very nice restaurants.

Some of the murals on the walls in the city, especially in the more Bohemian section called Getsemani.

Door knockers that signify a person's profession in colonial times.