Welcome to Cartagena Colombia

by Ann Johndro-Collins

Title

Welcome to Cartagena Colombia

Artist

Ann Johndro-Collins

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Cartagena, located on Colombia, South America's northern coast and facing the Caribbean Sea, is the most visited city in the country. It gets extremely crowded in the December holidays and the holy week, when schools are out and most Colombians take their vacations. The city has basically two main parts: the walled colonial city ("ciudad amurallada"), which is truly amazing and has many fancy restaurants, clubs and hotels; and a long strip of hotel towers and condos fronting onto the beach, known as Bocagrande. It is also nice to visit the exclusive neighborhood of Castillogrande, filled with recently built condos, places to jog, and a quiet beach to soak up some sun.
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Cartagena's main attraction is its historic old town surrounded by the city wall. Main entrance is the Clock Tower building. The walled city includes the neighborhoods Centro, San Diego, Getseman� and the modern part La Matuna.
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The oldest part of Cartagena is around Plaza Trinidad in Getseman�.
Cartagena's 500-hundred year-old coralstone forts and great parts of its walled city are admirably intact and represent some of the finest examples of civil and military architecture of the Spanish colonial times.
The Castillo de San Felipe is a fortress designed by the Dutch engineer Richard Carr and built in 1657 by the Spanish for protection against pirates while shipping gold out to Europe.
Close to the San Felipe fortress is the 150m high La Popa hill, which offers great views over Cartagena and the harbour area. The 17th century Santa Cruz monastery is here, which has a beautifully restored courtyard and a fine image of the Virgin of La Candelaria.
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Museums: The Palacio de la Inquisici�n (Palace of Inquisition) is where the Spanish Inquisition tortured, judged and convicted men accused of crimes against religion. It is situated in 'Plaza de Bolivar' in the historic center. Note that this actual tribunal of the Inquisition did not condemn many accused to death and the museum focuses more on practices of the Inquisition outside of Cartagena. The Gold Museum is free and worthwhile. It's also air-conditioned which provides a nice break from the heat.
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Churches: Almost all churches in the historic center are worth visiting, especially Iglesia de San Pedro Claver, in honor of the priest St. Pedro Claver, who was the first saint of the new world for his work with slaves; La Catedral, near Plaza de Bolivar and the Iglesia de Santo Domingo.

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May 5th, 2013

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