Cartagena or Silicon Valley?

Cartagena is a city of two or even three sides.  I had ridden in through the urban sprawl that is the commercial area and that held little attraction. You then pass the stone/coral walls of the old town (the bit you see in the pictures and even the films as Romancing the Stone was filmed here) on the way north to the string of hotels. You have to make a choice of staying in the old town or out on the beach. I chose the beach as I would prefer to be there and visit the town rather than vice versa. the beaches are lined with tall, white/glass hotels and apartment blocks. there is a lot of building still going on and there will not be room to park a bike between the buildings soon.

As you can see the beaches are not the yellow or white sand of the eastern Caribbean. Neither is the water turquoise. It is murky but not unclean.

They take their beach football seriously, to the point of having a referee. Curiously both teams were both wearing Barcelona shirts.If not stopping to watch the football you can walk along the beach past little open tents which people hire for the day. The ladies seem to have an appetite for the largest silicon implants they can get. It reminded me of an old TV program called Eurotrash (which was quite funny) and a woman on there had some of these mountains of silicon fitted. I didn't take photos for two reasons -1) I am sure I would get punched and 2) they are really not attractive. It is not just the old birds either, even the young girls have had it done.

The old town is very attractive. there are so many street that look like this one, you could take hundreds of nice picture. They know they have a little gem here and are doing a good job of keeping it well maintained.

It is a fairly small area but it is hot and humid so walking soon has you dripping with sweat, no matter the time of day or night. The little gardens dotted around the town are shaded by trees and give you a chance to stop leaking. 

There are several museums I only visited two. The gold museum which had lots of artifacts from the various tribes (the bits the Spanish didn't find and expropriate) and the Naval Museum. I went in to the Naval museum and was greeted by the concierge who, on hearing my accent, started speaking in English. He had been on British merchantmen for many years and knew Liverpool. I was tempted to say "don't hold that against us".
 I.had seen quite a few exhibits without mention of the British, which was a bit concerning, but all was not lost. Most of Europe were having a pop at Spain's territories and eventually we got to Francis Drake (not yet a Sir) with his fleet he quickly took the city in 1574 and then managed to ransom it back to the Spaniards for $200 million |(in today's money). Not only that he had destroyed a quarter of the city as well! After this the Spanish lavished time (the next 60 years) and money fortifying the town - to the tune of $2 trillion (in today's money again). It shows you how much they were making from their South American outings. A part of the rebuilding included a seat of the Inquisition (which is still here).  So you couldn't even get away from the sadistic Catholic priests with there torture equipment over here.

The French then had a go and dealt it another blow (they got about twice the ransom Drake did). The walls and forts were adapted over the years as a succession of Europeans attempted to retake the port. There are 11 kms of walls, most of which you can walk on.

The British under Admiral Vernon with American colonial troops (including George Washington's brother) had another go in 1741.  Despite a massive fleet the siege was broken off due to the start of the rainy season (and heavy casualties). Washington was so impressed with Vernon that Mount Vernon is named after him.

As I mentioned previously this is a 3 day weekend in Colombia so the hotel, town and beaches were mobbed but the shops were closed. This was a minor crisis as I had left my iphone charger in  the last stop so I had to sit on my sun lounger with just my kindle (Hemmingway "For whom the bell tolls") and no music. And you think you have it tough!

Come lunchtime on Monday, the place emptied and becomes a pleasant, quietish backwater. Oh and do they have thunder storms? Unfortunately they tend to be in the afternoon. I would like to see one at night as the lightening is pretty spectacular.