Where to begin with this amazing city?? The food, the architecture, the bright colors, the heat, the bougainvillea (best I’ve ever seen!!)  Cartagena is STUNNING and way more cosmopolitan than I was expecting.  I was completely blown away by how much I enjoyed our time here.

On our first day, we arrived early afternoon after driving in from Santa Marta (we ditched the rental car and Ubered into the walled city). Our friends Bryan and Tatiana were flying in from Costa Rica to meet us for the weekend, but they hadn’t arrived yet, so we set out in search of lunch, landing at Malanga, one of the only options I had saved that was open for breakfast and lunch.  The heat is indeed sweltering, so we made stops along the way into little air conditioned shops, as well as multiple stops for me to photograph the non stop gorgeous streets, buildings, and bougainvillea.  We tucked into piles of ceviche and chips and chatted with two tourists from Chicago who were in town for a bachelor party.  After lunch, we checked into the beautiful Casa Gastelbondo and hung out by the rooftop pool, where Ryan made friends with a hummingbird living in the flowers.

After a nap and a shower, we headed out to meet our friends for dinner at Carmen, which was my favorite meal of the entire trip in all of Colombia.  This restaurant feels like a movie set – so chic, tropical, glam, and bohemian all at once.  The food was next level fine dining and still reasonably priced (compared to home – more expensive than other parts of Colombia for sure).   A mix of indoor rooms and outdoor courtyards, we were seated in an enclosed courtyard in the center of the restaurant under the stars and surrounded by tropical plants, and although it was hot, I was delighted.

After dinner, we headed to Bazurto Social Club for some dancing.  Bryan and Taty are expert level salsa dancers, and had actually taught lessons to their wedding guests in Costa Rica a few years before.  Ryan and I were feeling rusty so we watched a few YouTube videos in preparation, but it proved unnecessary as Bazurto had two instructors on stage guiding the crowd through a raucous dance lesson, which culminated in a packed club full of sweaty bodies.

Once we’d had enough dancing, we retreated to a rooftop bar for a night cap.  We were occasionally approached on the street with offers of “white coffee” (“we have the worlds finest cocaine!”) but politely declined.

The next morning we slept in before enjoying breakfast poolside in the lobby of our hotel (Casa Gastelbondo had a pool downstairs in the lobby as well as on the roof).

After breakfast, we met Bryan and Tatiana to walk to the fortress Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, which I was particularly keen to see as it was featured in one of my favorite 80s adventure movies Romancing the Stone.  The walk there was not far, but was the hottest, sweatiest walk of my entire life.  We had to stop multiple times for bottled water and at one point I thought I might pass out.  Once we made it to the fort, however, a consistent breeze cooled me off and lifted my spirits.

Over the next few hours, we did some sightseeing including this giant red door, some amateur MCs, the gorgeous pink Teatro Heredia opera house, and the “Fat Lady” in the center of Plaza de Santo,

In following days, we ate mountains of ceviche at La Cevicheria…

… did some shopping and got emeralds from Lucy Jewelry and also these glass beaded earrings made by indigenous tribes in Santa Marta (I don’t remember the name of that shop – sorry!)….

got sunset drinks at the famous Cafe del Mar on top of the wall that surrounds the old city…

Viewed the street art in the hip neighborhood Getsemani (and got tapas at the even hipper Demente)

Posed for pictures in front of this wall of vintage mirrors (after putting our name on the wait list at La Cevicheria)

We also enjoyed a fabulous lunch at Candé, and dinners at Juan Del Mar, Alma, and Restaurante DonJuan.  DonJuan was my favorite meal (after Carmen)

lunch at Cande

We also visited the peninsula of Barru (via boat tour) and did a day trip to Blue Apple Beach Club – posts to follow!

Must Dos:

Shop for Emeralds at Lucy Jewelry, Dinner at Carmen and DonJuan, lunch at Candé and La Cevicheria

Tips: be prepared for the heat (comfy clothes and shoes), know that the beaches in town are not that nice so planning a day trip somewhere is a good idea, expect to be hassled occasionally by street vendors, tip the fruit ladies if you take their photo, be mindful of pickpockets, and say no to drugs!  We felt safe everywhere we went and did not have a single negative incident, but it would be easy to take advantage of someone who was high or black out drunk, just as it is in every part of the world.  If anything, we felt like the locals were going out of their way to be extra nice to try to dispel the reputation that Colombia is unsafe.  I would feel completely safe going back with a group of girls, and we saw several bachelorette groups. Party on!