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Colombia

Colombia

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Colombia has been on my bucket list for a very long time now.

The country is more than double the size of France with almost 50 million people living here.

And the government has gone a long way to throw off the mantle of its narco-terrorism roots.

The nation has about 1,600 km of coastline to the north onto the Caribbean Sea, and a further 1,300 km of coast to the west onto the Pacific Ocean. The northern border is Panama, which divides the two bodies of water using the infamous Panama Canal. Venezuela and Brazil sit to the east and Peru and Ecuador to the south.

Cartagena

Our entry was a couple of days into the port city of Cartagena, on the Caribbean coast. Oh my god I love this place.

Before I even get into the rant about how great this place is, let’s take a moment to explain the introduction that you get to the town when you get off a cruise ship. As you walk through the port the first thing that you are met with is a FREE aviary and tourist park. This is just there. There are trinket shops, cafes and restaurants right here at the entry point. Within this, the first thing that you see is a grassed area with about 20-50 flamingos in it. Around them are about 10 parrots, some macaws, various waterfowl and the odd tree rat.

Quite literally, if you went no further than this then you would have had a great day out in Cartagena. But there is more. Keep walking around the corner and you come across the ubiquitous “I Love” sign coupled with about another 50 macaws of varying colours. A bit further I got to see my first ever live toucan. From here there were some tortoises and I even ran across a giant anteater.

And all of this for free before you even leave the port, how good is this?

Getting out of the port, we were told it would cost us $20 each in a cab to get to the tourist area. As we walked out we found a dude with a minibus who offered us a 4 hour tour of the sights (including return) for the same price as a one way cab. So off we went.

Cartagena is a major city of about a million people, with a fantastic mix of modern city and down by the ocean is the historic walled Old Town.

The first stop was the seaside suburb of Manga. This is a leafy residential neighbourhood with a park, seafront promenade and nice views of the new city skyline across the bay.

The next stop was the old city walls and some of the fortifications of Old Town.

This olden section of town was founded in the 16th century and now has the historic squares, cobblestoned streets, colourful colonial buildings, and of course all of the tourist hustle and bustle that you would expect. Fair warning…the touts here can be pretty full on so be prepared for a total assault on the senses.

The main entrance to the old town is through the Puerta del Reloj. This is the original and historic main gate to the centre of the fortified city, Cartagena de Indias.

As usual for us, it was covered in scaffolding.

OK…before I step you through the gates into old town, lets talk about the coolest thing in this entire city. Right in the heart of Cartagena city is a small unassuming park surrounded by yellow walls. It is officially called Parque del Centenario and on first glimpses you would probably just walk straight past. But you would have seriously missed out as within the park there were 7 sloths (as of November 2023) living in the trees in and around the park.

In addition to the Sloths, there are also tamarin monkeys, red squirrels and several iguanas in the park. The monkeys are tree rats that annoy you and carry diseases (but the tourists still try and hand feed them) while the Iguanas are usually found lounging on the grass soaking up the sunlight.

The park is located between the squares Plaza de Independencia and Plaza de los Coches. Both of these were in full Christmas decoration phase when we were there. The place just feels right, from happy vendors, beautiful streets great little restaurants the place is welcoming. Admittedly the touts can get a bit much after a while but for the most part they are friendly and just trying to earn a living.

Once you step through the gates you are in full tourist mode (in case you had not already noticed by all of the touts etc).

The Cathedral of Cartagena de Indias was built in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. It is in the heart of Old Town and is dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria. The original structure of the cathedral has been preserved today almost unchanged.

Cartagena is just a lovely city. The care and pride shown in the homes, the parks and the neighbourhoods give the place a really great feel. As our ship stayed here overnight we learned a trick that we should have done. Some people got off the boat and paid for a night’s accommodation (under $100) in the heart of the action. This will be us for sure, next time we come.

Within the walls of the old city is the suburb or area of Getsemani this is the bohemian-style neighbourhood where everyone is welcome. Poor or wealthy, tourist or local? Back in the day, it was the neighbourhood for prostitution, drug, and violence. But today it is the home to awesome street art, food, bars and music.

The street art in this part of town is truly something to behold. What was once probably a pretty sketchy to walk through is now an absolute delight. At no point did we feel nervous or concerned for our safety, even amid the mad tourist throngs.

As part of our tour on day one we hit the usual haunts but also had a couple of entries into some museums around town. The first was an art gallery that focussed on the faces of the pandemic and the losses that were felt in Colombia. The next was the local cultural museum.

The last was the Emerald Museum. Colombia is one of the world’s largest producers of emeralds (supplying about 90% of the world’s supply), and as such they are on sale everywhere. And we went through the museum (and shop) that told us all about this.

We were paired at dinner with a Swedish couple (Patrick and Anna) who were fantastic. So on our second day in Cartagena, we decided to head out together to explore the various areas. They took us to the flash cocktail bars and we took them to the dodgy neighbourhoods. They were such good company that we also spent the next day in Aruba with them kicking back by the beaches.

Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas is the castle/fortress that was built on the Hill of San Lázaro in 1536. It was placed in a strategic location where it could dominate approaches by both land and sea. It was built by the Spanish using African slave labour and was involved in several battles between the late 17th to early 19th centuries between the European powers.

We did not get there this time around but we are due to return to Cartagena in about 6 weeks time for a second stint. We will update these photos and give a much better viewing soon.

Once you get a bit further afield there are other little gems that look they should also be added to the things to see list. Some of these include the islands.

Isla de Barú, with white-sand beaches and palm trees.

Isla del Rosario, known for their coral reefs.

Tayrona National Park has long stretches of beaches lined with coconut palms and a dense rainforest with lots of day hikes.

The Lost City (La Ciudad Perdida) was built around 800 CE and contains 169 terraces carved into the mountains, as well as a network of tiled roads and small plazas. The site is older than Machu Picchu!

The last thing that I have to mention about Cartagena is the absolute idiocy of the American tourists. They (almost without exception) all hated it. Clearly Colombia’s troubled past (cartels, paramilitaries, poverty, and petty crime) has cast a long shadow that for many will not go away and danger lurks around every corner.

They felt unsafe and one comment was that they were walking around in groups of 10 or more so that they didn’t get kidnapped. For us, this was truly one of the safest places we have ever been to. I am not sure exactly what they thought they would be ransomed for (maybe their vintage chewed gum collection from high school).

We loved the place and cannot wait to come back (which thankfully we will be fairly soon).

Cruising

Trans-Atlantic Cruise

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Our transatlantic cruise started in Italy at the main cruise ship port, Civitavecchia, which is about 60 km northwest of Rome. For us, it was a short train ride (costing under 5 euros each) in a comfortable air-conditioned train from central Rome. I mention this because we found out that others on the ship organised vehicle transportation and paid hundreds of euros for the pleasure of doing so.

Civitavecchia has two main parts, the local part that is fun, reasonably priced and entirely pleasurable and then there is the tourist part, that is grossly overpriced and designed merely to bilk the tourist dollar. The best example of this was our dinner. We ate at a local taverna and had amazingly good seafood pasta (despite one looking like baked beans), washed down with local beer and ended up with a bill of 38 euros. The next day I had a coffee in the tourist zone and we had some (small) pastries (Jill had a cannoli while I had a Sfogliatella) and the bill for a single coffee and some pastries was 19 euros.

The town of Civitavecchia dates back to the 2nd century and still retains some of its original features (like the Roman dock). The port also includes the 16th-century Michelangelo Fort. The town itself is kinda nice with some odd little quirks. The only real issue of the town is the taxis. They are absolutely obscene in the prices that they charge a bunch of oldies getting on an off the cruise ships.

The town is small and, once on the ship, our conversations with other passengers revealed that they had paid around 30 euros for a 1-2 kilometre ride to the port. Similarly, they caught big bills from the train station to the hotel. Being grotty backpackers, we avoided these as we walked the 1.3 kilometers to our accommodation and the 400 meters to the bus station the next morning.

Having reached and navigated our way through the departure point we boarded our ship and were met with a VIP luncheon (we paid a little extra for the key). The key gives you full internet access while on board as well as some VIP accesses to shows etc for about the same price as the internet access alone.

Our itinerary involved a bunch of sea days as we traversed the Atlantic Ocean so that the ship could operate out of Miami for the next sailing season.

Cartagena, Spain

Our first port of call was in the town of Cartagena in Spain. We liked the idea of this as a bit later on we would be hitting the port of Cartagena in Colombia and the symmetry of going to both amused me. The one in Spain was founded around 200 BC and has been continually inhabited ever since, mostly serving as a major trading port. Today it has about 220,000 people living here.

The port was pretty and was about a 1.5 km leisurely stroll along tree lined and very nicely paved streets to get to the heart of town. Here you are met with the usual tourist hustle and bustle, but on a very relaxed and manageable level. There was a HOHO bus available for those not up to the walk but it was flat and easy and the HOHO line was a bit long, so we chose to walk.

Once in town, cool streets and shops follow, along with the usual eclectic mix of funky restaurants and cafes. Then you can add on the religious bling of the churches with their glittering displays and you have had a pretty nice day out in a typical southern European town.

We followed the main path until the end and looped around the whole town coming back to the main tourist attraction as a last (once the initial surge of humanity had powered through it). And this was of course the Roman Theatre and Archaeological Museum, set right in the heart of town. The main drag came much later and was designed to skirt around it, while never being far away.

In fact, if you just did the main drag it is possible to miss the thing entirely. My favourite part of the the place was when we stopped at a nice, local, out-of-the-way cafe for a coffee and some churros. We got two really good coffees and 7 churros with change from a fiver (the ones in the tourist strip were about triple that price). It was so good that afterwards we got another 7 churros, but this time with the hot chocolate dipping sauce.

The Canary Islands, Spain

The next two stops would be in the Canary Islands. These are a Spanish owned archipelago of 7 main islands off the northwestern coast of Africa.

The seven main islands are (from largest to smallest in the area) Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, and El Hierro. The area also includes many smaller islands and islets and several major rocks. In ancient times, they were known as “the Fortunate Isles”.

Lanzarote

Our first port of call in the Canaries was Lanzarote (by the way…not a canary in sight…in case you were wondering). Lanzarote is known for its year-round warm weather, beaches and volcanic landscape. The place is pretty stark with black volcanic rock and cactus gardens dominating everything that you see.

Once again we were delivered a bit over a kilometer from the heart of town and did the hike to see what was on offer. As usual, when the crowds went left, we went right. This took us on a lovely seaside walk, past the marina, a lighthouse, some ruins and along until you get to the Castilo de San Jose which is an historic fortress that has since been converted to an art museum.

From here were a bunch of stark landscapes and volcano-looking things, so we turned and headed back towards the tourist throngs. The diversion ramped up our activity and step count, but after a few days on the ship, this was well needed. The town itself was again lovely and well laid out for the cruise ship tourist clientele.

It was flat, well paved, with wide pedestrian streets and limited intersections where the tourist and the local traffic would come to loggerheads. We liked the place but if we were to come again we would be more likely to hire a car and go further afield to explore some of the stark volcanic landscapes, beaches and sights.

Gran Canaria 

This was our last stop before what would be another 7 days of nothing but sailing, as we crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Gran Canaria is located about 150 km off the northwest coast of Africa and about 1,350 km from Europe. It has a population of around 850,000 and is predominantly known for its beaches.

The place was conquered by the Spanish in the late 1400’s and has its origins in volcanic activity (mostly made of fissure vents). It is almost round with a diameter of around 50 km and rains so infrequently that it is considered a desert climate.

This was our least favourite of our stops on the boat. The town itself is OK without being amazing with clean neat streets and a few touristy type spots. But for the most part the place is used as one of those all inclusive holiday destinations that Europe seems so keen on. As you wander around to the other side of town you come across the beach of Playa de las Canteras that is filled with poorly attired, visiting European tourists.

The biggest issue that we came across was under employment. There was huge volumes of people (typically of African origin in their early 20’s) just milling about in large (ish) groups with little or nothing to do other than hanging out on street corners in packs. This is the first time since Naples in Italy that we had felt concern for our safety.

I must say that we were not approached or harassed in any way but the groups prompted me to move the wallet from the back pocket to the front pocket, with my hand over the top. Our years of travel have us highly attuned to our surroundings and things that don’t “feel” right and sadly, this is what we got from our time on Gran Canaria.

The ship

Having finished off our ports, all that was left was the seven days of cruising that we had ahead of us. Our ship was the Royal Caribbean Ship, Explorer of the seas.

The Explorer of the Seas was built in 2000 and refurbished in 2014 and can carry 4,200 passengers and almost 1,200 staff across its 15 decks. The ship is one of the smaller to mid-sized in the fleet but includes entertainment like an ice skating rink, rock climbing wall, mini golf course and the Flowrider (a surfing simulator).

Up until now, we had been paying extra for balcony-type rooms or suites that offer better viewing and are closer to the available amenities (and obviously cost more). Our room for this trip was down the bottom of the ship in an outside room on level 3. In fact, our next few cruises will see us in the dodgy cheap rooms, so stay tuned to see if they are any good.

Well if this is the dodgy room down the bottom, I will take it any day of the week. It was lovely. A huge porthole behind the bed meant that you woke up to the ocean every morning. It was so nice that we never even tried to close the curtains.

We wandered the ship, ate and drank at the bars and restaurants, listened to some of the entertainment and generally just had a lovely trans-Atlantic journey. The thing that did throw us was the constant time changes. It seemed like every day or two we had to wind the clock forward as we gained another hour as we progressed towards Miami. The staff loved it, as they got an extra hour of sleep each time (this works backwards when coming the other way). But for those of us with a sleep pattern, I woke up an hour earlier every day.

The cruise itself was great, but it is one of the older cruises that you can do with the average age well into the 70’s and almost half of all those on board at the higher levels of the rewards program.

The ship was probably the biggest letdown. There was lots to see and do but there was no real hidey holes where you could avoid the crowds. This meant that you were hiding in your room or stuck in busy communal areas. Other ships we have been on had little quiet zones dotted around the place where you could sit quietly and read, or do a crossword, but sadly, this was missing on this ship.