Cartagena, Colombia

We spent four lovely days in Cartagena, Colombia. This romantic town has done quite a bit to keep the historic center of the town well maintained, so a walk through the center is truly like stepping back 500 years. We stayed right in the center which is surrounded by high stone walls that were used to protect the port from Pirate sieges. We spent our afternoons strolling around beautiful plazas, along the high sea wall, and through narrow cobblestone streets shaded by wooden balconies drapped in colorful bougenvilla flowers. We also visited several churches and museums, which are housed in some of the restored colonial buildings. There are tons of vendors on the streets selling everything from fruit to paintings. One morning we went to visit the Castillo de San Felipe which was built around 1637. This amazing fortress was really only used as a place for the soldiers to kill invaders that were trying to come into Cartagena. Perched on the top of a hill it overlooks all of Cartagena. There are miles of winding tunnels through the fortress with little nooks called "killing houses" where the soliders slept and hid to kill intruders that came into the fortress. Much of the fortress has been preserved and we wandered through the many dark tunnels and surfaces of the castle, learning about it´s many fortifications & history. We also had a pre-Valentine dinner in Cartagena where Merritt and I went to a fancy Argentine restaurant (Parrilla) for a delicious grilled steak and some fresh fish and listened to live guitar music (Merritt´s missing playing the guitar!). He also bought me some beautiful emerald earrings! As you may know, Colombia is home to the biggest Emerald market in the world, so there are emerald shops on every corner. After much searching we found a trustworthy dealer to buy this great momento. We also saw part of where Romancing the Stone was filmed!