Cartagena, Colombia (July 15)

I knew I’d have a good tour today when our guide (Sandy) introduced himself and said he was a history teacher.  Sandy is my wife’s name, and my father was a history teacher for many years before becoming a high school principal.  Not only that, but in my experience, history teachers make excellent tour guides.  I’ve had several history teacher/guides through Tours by Locals, and all were terrific.  (The only dud I ever had from Tours by Locals was a financial planner, of all things.)

Cartagena – full name: Cartagena de Indias – is a bustling city on Colombia’s Caribbean coast.  It was founded in 1533, and its Old Town, which I toured today, preserves many mansions from the Colonial era, along with various fortresses and a striking cathedral (the Catedral de Santa Catalina de Alejandría, begun in 1577).

Old Town Cartagena could serve as the dictionary definition of picturesque.  Centuries-old buildings with wrought-iron window bars and flower-drenched, mahogany balconies line the narrow streets. 

Adding to the color, women from the provinces garbed in bright yellow, blue, and red dresses (the colors of Colombia’s flag) stroll around selling fruit from baskets balanced on their heads. 

Even the door knockers tell stories of the past – a marine-themed knocker means the house was built by a successful merchant, a reptile signifies a house constructed for a noble (fitting, perhaps, or is that giving reptiles a bad name?), and a lion denotes the dwelling of a military hero.

Before heading into the Old Town proper, we stopped to take photos of Castillo San Felipe de Barajas (1639), a massive fortress looming over the coast.  At various times, Cartagena was besieged by pirates, the French (briefly), and the English. 

Castillo San Felipe was the site of a battle that led to the defeat, in 1741, of an armada led by British Admiral Edward Vernon.  George Washington’s half-brother, Lawrence, served under Admiral Vernon, and subsequently named the family’s Virginia estate after him – Mount Vernon.

 I’m not usually interested in military history, but I made an exception here because of the Mount Vernon connection and because the conflict was part of the delightfully named War of Jenkin’s Ear, which occupied the British and Spanish from 1739-1748.  The sobriquet comes from Captain Robert Jenkins, whose ear allegedly was severed by Spanish guards searching his ship for contraband.  Ear today, gone tomorrow, I guess.

We then headed into the Old Town, which is surrounded by still-extant walls forming a 7.5 mile boundary. 

For two hundred years beginning in 1610, Cartagena was known for a quite enthusiastic Holy Office of the Inquisition, housed beginning in 1770 in the Palace of Inquisition. 

Today, the Palace is a museum that preserves artifacts of the Inquisition.  As the famous and hysterical Monty Python skit notes,  the Inquisition’s main weapons were “fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, and a fanatical devotion to the Pope,” helped along by some gruesome instruments of torture, displayed in the museum.  How gruesome?  They were removed prior to a 2015 visit by Pope Francis.

I found the contrast between the Inquisition’s brutality and the Palace’s refined elegance jarring.

Following our museum visit, I strolled along the Old Town’s lovely streets, saying “no gracias” to countless vendors.

I also checked out a blissfully air-conditioned emerald mining exhibition/showroom and walked through a craft show full of colorful wares.

I finished my perambulation by exploring a blissfully shaded plaza. (It was pizza oven hot, as you may have gathered.)

Then it was time to return to the ship, but there was one more treat in store.  At the entrance to the port, there’s a free-range aviary full of parrots, flamingos, pheasants, and many other colorful and raucous birds. (There’s also a zoo, which I didn’t visit).

To top off the night, I had a delicious dinner at the ship’s Polo Grill (blackened salmon) followed by a runaway team victory at Name that Tune.  I’ll be back after we visit Grand Cayman on Thursday.