Friday January 24, 2025 – Cartagena Colombia
The stop in Cartagena was really an “extra half-stop” as we arrived in the morning and were on our way by 1 PM. The original plan was to go to Aruba and then head into the Queue for the Panama Canal. However in lieu of that, we had a full day in Miami and then headed to the general entrance to the Panama Canal, stopping for half a day in Cartagena. It was a great stop and we enjoyed it greatly, but the early departure meant we had to miss a lot in the town so we could get into the queue of ships going through the Canal. We are told that we are likely to go through the “New” Canal with only 2 locks, which will be interesting.
The port of Cartagena is big enough to have 5 major cruise ships docked at the same time. Today there were 4, so a busy day in port. A Virgin Cruise ship, the Norwegian Pearl and the Norwegian Joy were parked on either side of us. The port area, some 10 minute walk or less on the shuttle, has an array of shops, bars, restaurants and a mini zoo filled with exotic birds and animals from the region. A really amazing place to visit even if one does not want to venture further into the old or modern town.
We were on a tour “Cartagena by Land and Sea”, Coach 4 with Arturo as the driver and Elkin as the guide. Once on the coach which was next to the ship, with the Norwegian Joy, next to the Queen Anne. It was completely booked up, as were all the tours. We headed out directly to the old Spanish fort or castle of San Felipe de Barajas. It was supposedly the largest fort that was ever built by the Spaniards in the Americas. The reason for the importance of the City was that all the Gold from Peru and the other neighboring countries was brought to Cartagena to ship to Spain. The Fort has various ramps making their way up to the top with cannons facing up to the sky embedded in the construction. They were used to haul all the needed supplies up each of the ramps. From the top of the fort, there was a great view over the harbour as well as the old town and the new town with its skyscrapers.
After the track to the top, we went to visit the Bobedas (vaults). These used to be 23 jail cells and now converted into 23 shops along a yellow multi-arched entrance, which was very attractive. We stopped for a coffee, before heading for a walk through the streets of the old town. Unfortunately, it was far too short as the narrow streets, plazas, churches and balconies with all the shops, need time to visit, particularly with the crowds from the influx of the 4 ship ~ approximately 1st 12,000 extra people for the day. We definitely felt that the hour we spent there was far too short and we just got a glimpse of its charm.
After leaving the old town we made our way over to a separate area of the City with a plethora of sky-scrapers in an ultra-modern city. We boarded a boat which comfortably sat the 40 people on the tour and we visited from the sea the various areas of the city. On one side were the modern sky-scrapers on the other the old Spanish colonial architecture as well as the Naval base with it’s destroyers, submarine and a fascinating ship that operates as a helipad, one assumes from drilling platforms at sea. Another area where the Coast Gard has it’s headquarters, we saw a blue submarine which was confiscated full of drugs as well as other boats that go back to the days when the drug lords operated in Colombia.
We got dropped near the ship and after a brief visit to the mini-zoo, it was back on the ship to meet up with the Clifford’s for lunch. They did not do a tour, but remained in the port area.
The afternoon there was another lecture on the Panama Canal by Dr. Michael Conniff who has written 5 books on the Panama Canal, lived in Panama and knows a great deal about the Canal. He will be doing the running commentary tomorrow as we traverse the Canal.
The other lecture was by Lawrence Kuznetz who was an engineer working on the Space Shuttle. When it was decided that the shuttle’s last mission was when the International Space Station was built, he got together with a couple of people and put together a plan and raised 4 Billion USD to take over the shuttles and build a private space industry. NASA had sold the shuttles to various museums and the government funded a new rocket venture for much more than the private group had planned and it was a failure. It eventually left open the field to Elon Musk, Virgin Galactic and others to build the private space business and with greater efficiency.
The evening show was not great – ElenkaCello – A very loud and not very pleasant electric cello player, so we walked out after two numbers.
Roger & Anne Travels 