Cartagena is an interesting & beautiful city. It combines superb weather, a sparkling stretch of the Caribbean, an abundance of tropical fruit & a rich history with many fine colonial buildings. .
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During the day we busied ourselves with exploring the old walled city. Thankfully the Colombians realise they have something special here so it´s very well preserved with few modern monstrosities inside the city walls. Standing on the defensive wall that surrounds the "old" city you can view the sprawling "new" city spreading itself along the coast catering for the beach bums with expensive multistory hotels.
Cartegena is where the Conquistadors (Spanish Invaders) stored all their booty (that they´d robbed from the indigenous folks) prior to shipping it back to Spain. Consequently it was very popular with the pirates (inc. Francis Drake) as a site for plundering. Hence, it was necessary for the Spanish, through the sweat of African slaves, to encircle the town with what is a very formidable defensive wall. They also built forts outside the wall. We visited "Castillo San Felipe de Barajas" - the largest Spanish fort in the Americas. Again, another impressive structure.
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