Spring 2016 – Day 9

It was another beautiful day in our lives when we woke up to the port of Cartagena, Colombia – wow –South America again.

We had a “free” walking tour booked for the 6 of us and we were to get off the ship at 10:00am and take a taxi to the old city to meet up with the tour at the second stop; however, the ship didn’t make it to port on time because of delays in leaving our last port.

So, we walked off the ship and arranged for private guide for the 6 of us in what was to be a 3 hour tour;

however, it lasted until after 5 – what a great day in Cartagena.  The guide first drove us into the old city and parked the car at this this huge fort that guarded the entrance.  It is for sure the largest fort that we have ever seen.

She (our guide) took us to the top where she arranged with a fort tour guide to take us on a short tour of the fort and tell us its history.  The walk up was very, very steep, but we all made it and the tour was great, including going into some very narrow and small tunnels that were used by the soldiers to travel to parts of the fort and fight their enemies.

Then we got back into the van and she drove to the old city where we started walking.  All told, we walked a little over 4 miles but both of us are fine.  It was a great tour. 

At the end of the tour, we all, including the guide went to one of the restaurants we had found that was supposed to be the best of Cartagena.  There was about a 20 minute wait so we went next door and had a drink at a restored convent which is now a luxury hotel.  At the restaurant, called La Cevicheria, we split a couple of seafood dishes, one of which was a dish called Ceviche which is a mixture of all kinds of seafood cooked in lime juice very , very good.

Then she drove us around the new city including past the yacht basin where we saw one of the largest yachts we have ever seen.  It was owned by an individual from Montana named Washington and none of us had ever heard of him.  She finished the day by taking us back to the ship and we arranged for her to pick us up at 8:30pm and take us back to the old city to another great restaurant called La Vitrola and the food there was amazing.  There was no sign on the door and you had to knock to get in and if you didn't have a reservation, they will not let you in.  Thankfully we had a reservation.

We spent 2 ½ hours eating, first starting out with 6 different appetizers and then several main courses and finishing with dessert!!  After dinner, Jeff and Vera stayed to listen to some music at the bar and Barb and Tim and we went for a ½ walk before heading back to the restaurant at 11:30pm where she picked us up and took us back to the ship.

That’s all for tonight and tomorrow we are in Cartagena until 4:00pm and there is a lot of the old city left for us to visit.

Just walking around outside the port!!

Walking up to the fort

Part of the fort - lots of gun holes

In one of the tunnels with the guide from the fort

Snacks for sale on the street

Where we ate lunch

Lunch

More lunch

Some of the dinner apptizers

The door to the restraurant