Walking the streets of Cartagena today, I wondered: what is it about the Caribbean that makes vendors and taxi drivers want to annoy tourists? I really hadn't missed the cries of "Hey, lady! Psst!" that had been so common in Cuba, but luckily nowhere in South America so far. Yet now, at the Caribbean coast, they appeared again.
Despite this slight background annoyance, I made my way to the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas in the morning. This fortress was apparently one of the biggest built by the Spanish in the Americas. It served, not always successfully, to protect Cartagena from attacks by land or sea.
The Castillo has been restored very nicely. The formidable amount of restoration work necessary was shown in a video about the Castillo's history. They even reconstructed the cannons on some of the battlements - including the wooden parts that are missing from most other museums. This is one of the smaller cannons:
Without doubt, the best part was exploring the underground passages. They had been designed as shortcuts, living quarters and evacuation routes. All the tunnels are equipped with electric light today, so I can only imagine how spooky it must have been with flame-based lighting as the only source of illumination down there.
In one tunnel, I reached a point where there was suddenly ankle-deep water - I'm not sure if tourists were even supposed to be down there; but since there were lights, I am quite sure it was ok. The tunnel reflected on the still water was a pretty amazing sight:
However, when I emerged from this particular tunnel, there were two security guards anxiously asking whether I was lost (and not believing I was just exploring). So maybe tourists sometimes do get scared and feel lost down there?
For something completely different, I visited the museum of modern art next. The museum is housed in one of the old buildings in the center. Some of the walls inside have been left in their raw state, creating a beautiful contrast between artwork and walls:
My last stop for the day was the cathedral. They had audio guides available that told stories about the cathedral's construction and the role it played during various attacks on Cartagena.
One of the stories was about the 1697 raid on Cartagena. In short, French pirates sacked the city and sailed away with loads of treasure. This treasure was then used by the king of France to finish his latest pet project - Versailles. Interesting how history sometimes works, isn't it?
Today also marked another milestone: I have now taken more than ten thousand pictures on my trip! Sorting through them would seem like an impossible task - had I not already done most of it for the blog :-)
Despite this slight background annoyance, I made my way to the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas in the morning. This fortress was apparently one of the biggest built by the Spanish in the Americas. It served, not always successfully, to protect Cartagena from attacks by land or sea.
The Castillo has been restored very nicely. The formidable amount of restoration work necessary was shown in a video about the Castillo's history. They even reconstructed the cannons on some of the battlements - including the wooden parts that are missing from most other museums. This is one of the smaller cannons:
Without doubt, the best part was exploring the underground passages. They had been designed as shortcuts, living quarters and evacuation routes. All the tunnels are equipped with electric light today, so I can only imagine how spooky it must have been with flame-based lighting as the only source of illumination down there.
In one tunnel, I reached a point where there was suddenly ankle-deep water - I'm not sure if tourists were even supposed to be down there; but since there were lights, I am quite sure it was ok. The tunnel reflected on the still water was a pretty amazing sight:
However, when I emerged from this particular tunnel, there were two security guards anxiously asking whether I was lost (and not believing I was just exploring). So maybe tourists sometimes do get scared and feel lost down there?
For something completely different, I visited the museum of modern art next. The museum is housed in one of the old buildings in the center. Some of the walls inside have been left in their raw state, creating a beautiful contrast between artwork and walls:
My last stop for the day was the cathedral. They had audio guides available that told stories about the cathedral's construction and the role it played during various attacks on Cartagena.
One of the stories was about the 1697 raid on Cartagena. In short, French pirates sacked the city and sailed away with loads of treasure. This treasure was then used by the king of France to finish his latest pet project - Versailles. Interesting how history sometimes works, isn't it?
Today also marked another milestone: I have now taken more than ten thousand pictures on my trip! Sorting through them would seem like an impossible task - had I not already done most of it for the blog :-)
