Cobblestone streets, squares aplenty in old town
The cannons, turrets and various nooks and crannies in the tunnels (complete with great acoustics and secret hideaways), are fun to explore, and the panoramic views of the city from the top are amazing.
It’s also great to see Cartagena from the ocean.
I took a 30-minute boat ride across the bay to Isla de Tierra Bomba, a small island, and headed to the Blue Apple Beach House, which has a great restaurant for sharing dishes (think seafood paella, sea bass carpaccio, and blue cheese mussels). Plus, there’s a pool surrounded by sun lounges, a DJ and a private beach.
I headed down to the beach with some friends, and our small group had it practically to ourselves. The water was warm, beautiful and calm — the perfect mix for me to try paddleboarding, while some of the others kayaked and splashed around in the Caribbean.
It’s deceptively easy to forget the city of nearly one million people is nearby ... But Cartagena’s old town never feels very big. The cobblestone streets are lined with little shops, horse-drawn carriages clip-clop by and there are plenty of squares where you’ll find locals playing cards, selling their wares, or just relaxing.
The Getsemaní neighbourhood just outside of the walled, old city is a great area to wander. Here you’ll find some colourful murals, hip little restaurants like the recently opened Arrabal and the old stalwart Café Havana, which is known for its live salsa music.
In the historic centre, overlooking the Caribbean, is a stunning restored property, where the likes of King Felipe VI of Spain, Mick Jagger and Bill Gates have stayed.
The Sofitel Legend Santa Clara was originally built as a cloistered convent for the Poor Clares in 1621. The old wall still envelopes the property, which has a traditional, colonial Spanish style.
The hotel is built around a beautiful, large pool (which used to be the nuns’ orchard), and a colonialstyle garden. There’s also a lovely spa and a few very good restaurants run by executive chef Dominique Oudin. He honed his skills working with renowned French chefs, such as the U.K.’s Michel Roux (at the Michelin-starred Waterside Inn), and France’s Paul Bocuse (who died in January and was known as a leading figure in nouvelle cuisine).
I had a stellar dinner complete with French service at Oudin’s Restaurante 1621, which won the World Luxury Restaurant Award in 2016 and 2017. And then, as if that wasn’t enough, I checked out a fab salsa band in the hotel’s El Coro Lounge Bar.
As with the rest of Santa Clara, there are a few stories here. The El Coro bar used to be the chapel choir and also has an old crypt. When it was excavated in 1949, the local reporter Gabriel García Márquez covered the event.
Legend has it that when he saw remains being taken out he noticed a long lock of red hair, which years later inspired the country’s first Nobel Prize winner to write the novel Of Love and Other Demons.
“Do not allow me to forget you” is one of the famous quotes from that book. And, indeed, as my trip comes to an end, I vow not to forget Colombia but to return one day so I can see more of it.