Posts Tagged ‘colonial’

If Tayrona is the natural jewel in Colombia’s Caribbean Crown, then Cartagena de Indias is without doubt the City highlight. A major port during Spanish Colonial times, the walled city and fortress were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984 and the tourists have been pouring in ever since.


Cartagena is split into 3 main tourist areas, the walled city, Getsemani (where the majority of the backpacker hostels are) and Bocagrande, a beach and high-rise hotel area obviously trying to be Miami, and one of the least inspiring places I’ve been to in South America.


I’ve been to a few Colonial towns in South America (Sucre in Bolivia, Salta in Argentina, Cusco in Peru, Ouro Preto in Brasil, Villa de Leyva in Colombia all spring to mind) and along with Cartagena they all have one thing in common that distinguishes them from similar historical sites in Europe.


Whereas in Europe, a similarly well-preserved historical town would be a Disneyfied site, beautiful, yet devoid of any soul, full of high-rate art galleries, overpriced restaurants and souvenir shops, in South America these places, are alive, they are lived in. This is not to say they don’t cater to (and in some cases obviously rip-off) tourists, but on the whole everyday life continues around, and despite, you.


We spent 2 days in the Old Town, simply wandering around enjoying the atmosphere, the architecture and the sea breeze. It’s a very walkable place, probably the best thing you can do there is just amble. Every corner holds a new surprise, every building is begging to be photographed. Jewel in the Crown indeed.

Ok, so a little out of synch chronologically speaking, but hey, you get what you pay for right? And you’re not paying for it, so there you go.

After Ilha Grande, we spent 4 days in Rio. Now, Rio is a must-see place, you can’t go to that part of Brasil and not go to Rio, right? I must say, for reasons already mentioned in my earlier Brasil post, I wasn’t that excited about going there. I was enjoying the more rural places in Brasil more than the cities and I was convinced I was going to get mugged or killed or something. But neither happened thankfully. Although my camera died, a freak wave came up over the 5 meter wall i was standing on and drenched me and the aforementioned camera. So, that was the end of that.

I did enjoy Rio in the end. It’s one of those places you feel like you already know, having seen all the pictures. And let’s face it, it is beautiful. As in stunning. On the first day we caught sunset from Sugarloaf mountain and the next day went up to Cristo Redentor and had a tour of the city.

Laura left on Saturday morning to go back to Buenos Aires and I stayed another day, most of it spent wandering up and down Copacabana watching the waves (and getting soaked by them) and in the evening had a very interesting night at a Brasilian Burlesque cabaret complete with strippers (male and female) and an oversexed Belgian couple. I can’t go into details, but it certainly was memorable. The next day, feeling like death (one too many caipirinhas the night before) I headed off to Petropolis where I bought a new camera and then onto Ouro Preto, the jewel in Brasil’s colonian crown.

Like all old, beautiful places I’ve been in South America, these places are not the sterile tourist traps you find in Europe. They are real, lively towns that people actually live in. There are tourists of course, lots, but you meet a lot of people who live there, and have lived there all their lives, and it adds an extra element to the place. I liked it. The buildings were incredibly beautiful, the roads ridiculously steep and history was all around.