Cartagena, Colombia

For my second blog I would like to tell you guys a little bit about Cartagena, Colombia. I’m from Medellin, Colombia and I love my country. Cartagena is one of my favorite places to go to in Colombia, and I would like to recommend it to anyone that wants to go anywhere in South America. This city is right by the Caribbean Sea and is not very big but it has a lot of history. One of its most famous places is “La ciudad Amurallada” (Walled City), it has a colonial architecture that takes you back to the 1600’s. This historic place was built somewhere between 1533 and 1717. The wall was built, because the increasing fame and wealth of the prosperous city turned it into an attractive site for pirates and corsairs. This place is one of the reasons why Cartagena is the most visited city in Colombia. Another historic place is “El Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas.” It was built in the XVII century by Spain to protect themselves from other countries that wanted to invade Colombia, during this time period Spain owned Colombia. When I visited it, I quickly noticed that the image I had of a castle and this place was totally different. Unlike most castles it has a different architecture (for those of you that don’t know what Castillo means, it is the Spanish word for castle).

Besides all of the historic places in this city there are also other places such as “Playa Blanca”, “Las Islas del Rosario”, “Baru” and “Bocachica.”  These islands are all less than 30 minutes away from the port. There you can enjoy the magic of a natural environment and sit at their beaches and relax.

I hope that with this short description of Cartagena all of you get intrigued by it and maybe add it to your list of places you want to visit in your future.