We decided to try and have breakfast at our hotel’s little cafe to start the morning. We ordered two americanos and the only vegetarian option on the menu. We were informed that there were only two options available, both with ham in them. I ordered the egg and ham with a croissant, hoping that the ham was on the side… Our food came pretty quickly and we carefully ate around the ham which was in the egg. The meal was only 53,600 pesos which was nice for a change. Cartagena is an expensive city, I assume because off all the cruise ship traffic it gets. 

We then walked to the old town from our hotel. We walked down some beautifully colourful streets with colourful flags hanging over them, flapping in the breeze (or strong breeze.. Cartagena is super wind, but it does help with the 40 Celsius heat). 

We then walked to the square in the old town near the port in order to see where our boat tour would leave from the following morning. After figuring out our port spot, we saw the old clock tower square and then decided to sit at a cafe and order a beer in order to cool down in the shade and use a washroom. We sat outside under a shady tree in the square, at a patio table and ordered two craft beers, a red lager of some sort that was pretty good and really helped to cool us down. The restaurant was very quirky, which I realized as I went up to use the washroom. There were so many rooms and odd objects, also an entire room full of thrones. 

Next we visited one of the giant cathedrals in town. There were active prayers going on, so we stuck to the perimeter as those finished. The church was mostly stone with beautiful stone carvings lining the side and atrium. The ceiling was a gorgeous dark stained wood that almost looked like the underbelly of an upturned boat, super fitting due to the cathedrals close proximity to the sea (and like the ceiling of the city hall in Stockholm Sweden). The front altar piece was absolutely beautiful with carved wooden figures and golden accents. 

We then made our way to a part of the wall we had not seen, via a cute square where Jives bought a hat for his father. The square had metal sculptures of figures in different poses. There was a mime in the square and he was imitating a lady as she posed for photos (ie pushing out his lips in a kiss pose, pushing up his boobs and modelling. It was pretty funny). We then walked along the wall for quite awhile, photographing views and filming along the way. We really love city walls, it gives you a lovely new perspective on the city and quite often they provide a bit of a break from city traffic and the hustle and bustle.

There were some old canons along the wall at points and lots of lovely views to the sea. The walls were built to defend this important port from pirates and outsiders. Cartagena was an important port for the Spanish as this is where all the gold and riches they took from South America would be loaded on boats and brought to Europe. We finally climbed off the wall and collected some more photos of door knockers on the walk back to our room.

We stopped for lunch at the square with Fernando’s (the place we had lunch the day before) thinking we would get another lovely pizza, but it turns out Fernando’s shares a patio with another place and depending on who seats you determines what menu you get. We were really set on getting another pizza, but instead we ordered a breaded fish dish with fried yucca and rice with a salad. It also came with a delicious hot sauce that was actually hot! As we were paying, a rap group with three guys came up and started rapping at a group of three guys from France.

Then the three rappers came over to us..I was paying the waitress as they rappers started rapping at Jives, then Jives started rapping back at them, which took the rappers by surprise and made the waitress literally jump in surprise. The waitress gestured at me like “did you know he could do that?” They three guys and Jives rapped back and forth for quite awhile and the rappers actually seemed to be having a great time. The waiter at Fernando’s came over as did another waitress and they watched the performance. After quite a long time the rappers bowed to Jives and Jives emptied his pockets of all his pesos into the rapper’s outstretched hat (only about $3 CAD). The waitress and Fernando clapped at the end like they genuinely enjoyed it too. It was lovely, if not a little embarrassing. 

We also found a little wine window large enough for a hand and a wine glass to come out of, along the way back to the hotel. My kind of establishment! 

We rested back at the room for a bit and then headed down to the beach with just our towels and a beer.  We left our hotel room key at reception and crossed the road to the beach where we chose a spot on the sand to leave our stuff. We both went into the water together which was lovely, as we didn’t have to worry about someone hanging back on the beach to watch our stuff.

The waves were about the same as the day before, some were bigger and you had to watch for those as they’d knock you right over. We didn’t go too far out as the undertow as always was so strong. We were right by the lifeguard booth with multiple lifeguards there which surprised me. So I felt quite safe. We then showered in the room and headed out to find some dinner. We decided on a place near our hotel which happened to be a hotel restaurant.

We took the elevator to floor #8 and chose a seat on the rooftop, overlooking the street. We ordered two mojitos that said they were 18,000 peso each. The menu was very limited, so we each ordered a pasta dish. I got a pesto penne and Jives got a dish with a white sauce and ham in it. The meal was very simple but good, which is honestly what our stomachs needed. We finished eating just as the sun was setting and asked for the check. The lady told us to pay down at reception, but to give her a tip now… which seemed odd. The guy at reception was super eager to get us out of the building…clearly it was because he had way overcharged us, and I debated saying something but we were being ushered out of the building and it was really awkward. I didn’t fancy a fight, but this was the second night in a row where we had been ripped off at dinner. Not a great way to encourage tourists to visit your country. 

We then retreated to our room as the sun was just below the horizon.