We spent a few hours this morning exploring the old UNESCO-listed city of Cartagena alongside numerous parties of tourists off the big boats (each with a guide holding a number), but quickly retreated to the area where we’re staying (thanks Diana, Bob and Nikhil for the recommendation) which is rather less manicured and perfect, and to our taste. There’s some terrific wall art and coloured buildings, together with people to watch. Imagine that these pictures have been taken in temperatures of 35 plus, with humidity that must be nearly 100 per cent. This is not the weather for us! Must be time for another beer!
Beautiful street art! I hope there is aircon or at least fans in hotel. We, in south east Australia, are having another set of heatwave days, and fans and aircon are constantly on!
Our room has excellent aircon I’m pleased to say. Yesterday we had lunch in a small local cafe that had a separate airconditioned area – the owner showed us in saying ‘welcome to Bogota’ – clearly the capital is thought to be wintry compared to the coast.
I particularly love the red palm leaves. In the last photo surely there aren’t cars on that street or is it cyclists breaking for your favourite reptile?
Agree about the red palms – v dramatic. The road in the picture was momentarily free of yellow cabs, bikes, carts and SUVs…
Glad you liked Getsemani..very atmospheric
It is! We much prefer it to the old town – v laid back.
Fantastic murals – particularly the red banana leaves: so simple and yet so effective. Are they commissioned by the people who live in the houses on which they are painted?
Our understanding is that artists get permission from house owners (rather than them paying) or, in the case of venues such as restaurants and bars, they commission the artists. XX
Not really sure ( now there’s a surprise). We were told in Medellin that, provided the owner was ok with it, then artists could paint anything. This may or may not be true. There, that was really helpful, no?