Colombia
Officially the Republic of Colombia, is a transcontinental country largely situated in the northwest of South America, with territories in Central America. Colombia shares a border to the northwest with Panama, to the east with Venezuela and Brazil and to the south with Ecuador and Peru. Language spoken is Spanish, population is 48,000,000
Columbian Flag
We had not planned to go to Columbia but lots of travellers we met said we should go as it is a great place. So we thought we would spend a few day’s in each of the following places. Medellin, Cali, Bogota, and Cartagena. The only place we had nice weather was Cartagena otherwise we had a lot of rain, we still manage to see a lot.
Medellin
We stayed in the centre of the city but in hind sight we should have stayed in El Poblado , as this had lots of great restaurants bars, clubs, and shopping malls, and a reputation for being the nicest and safest area of the city. The city was okay but just a bit grubby and there are a lot of people living on the streets. While in Medellin we visited the Museum of Antioquia it is the most famous museums in Medellin, it is very impressive, it houses permanent and temporary art exhibitions plus leads educational projects and conference and academic forums.The majority of the museum art was donated by Fernando Botero, a world famous artistic figure who was born and grew up in Medellin. The Museum is in Plaza Botero it is a large outdoor space and park that exhibits 23 bronze sculptures created by Fernando Botero. Defiantly worth a visit.
We took a day trip to: The Rock of Guatapé also known as the Stone of El Peñol it is a monolith a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, there are 740 steps to the uppermost step atop the building at the summit. A viewing spot was built on top of the rock, It is possible to see the 500 km shore-perimeter dam. The view is great and from a distance the steps up to the top make for a good photo. Up close is not that impressive and if you do not get there early there are hundreds of tourists. On the same trip we took a cruise on the Guatape Reservoir, for me the most memorable sight that day was of Guatapé’s streets adorned in fluorescent shades. It is beautiful town, that has a lot of history. It has some very nice good quality souvenir and coffee shops, the best I seen in Columbia.
On another day we took the Sky rail to Parque Arvi which sits on the eastern edge of the city and can be accessed by both cable car and vehicles and buses alike. The countryside appeal of the lush green fauna is not only spectacular to experience, but forms an important watershed for the area as well as important biological nature reserve for plants and animals native to the area. We did a lovely bush walk and visited the markets that are located at the top.
We spent St Pats day in Medellin we did manage to find an Irish Bar, mind you not many Irish mostly Americans. We had a good day all the same.
We flew to Cali from Medellin, the food is good here it was so nice to find an Asian restaurant and a good one at that. It was called Fusion Wok, very good food. It is a very nice town with a very beautiful Catholic church.
Onwards to Bogota, my favourite part of Bogota was Monserrate it is a mountain that dominates the city centre of Bogota the capital city of Columbia. It rises to 3,152 metres above the sea level, where there is a church (built in the 17th century) with a shrine, devoted to (“The Fallen Lord”). We took a ride to the top on the telesferico which is beautiful as it rolls up the mountainside. I was pleasantly surprised to see one of the nicest stations of the cross that I have ever seen, they seemed so life-like and the walk around each one of them is very beautiful with very well maintained gardens . We could observe all of Bogota city and surrounding area’s. There is a beautiful coffee shop (Santa Clara restaurant) also here, that is definitely worth a stop.
Coffee shop
From here we walked to the city to visit the gold museum. The Gold Museum in Bogota, is one of the country’s most popular and important museums. The museum contains the world’s largest collection of pre-Columbian gold pieces. The gold museum also displays wood, pottery, textile and stone work produced in pre-Spanish conquest periods. An interesting place worth a visit.
Bogota Plaza: You can’t miss this large square as you wander around the city’s historic centre. Surrounded by colonial buildings and the Cathedral with a statue to Bolivar in the centre. There are lots of pigeons being feed in the square, so be careful, might be an idea to carry an umbrella.
We stayed outside the city, close to Park 93 it seems to be your typical yuppie area. With nice restaurants, parks for the kids to play in and lots of security. The Airbnb was one of the best we stayed in.
Our last stop in Colombia is Cartagena, finally it has stopped raining. The city of Cartagena is a port located on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region, it was so nice to be back at the ocean. We had lovely accommodation which was a 5min walk to the beach. We had 5 days just relaxing and enjoying the sunshine.
My favourite area in Cartagena was the old city (it is a walled city), we liked it so much we stayed an extra two nights there. It has a lot of History and a great vibe about it, the people are colourful friendly and easy going. With some wonderful restaurants. It is wonderful to walk around the cobble narrow streets and admire all the old buildings
We visited The Castillo San Felipe de Barajas is a fortress in the city of Cartagena not far from the old town. The castle is located on the Hill of San Lázaro in a strategic location, dominating approaches to the city by land or sea. It was built by the Spanish during the colonial era. Construction began in the year 1536, and it was originally known as the Castillo de San Lázaro, It was expanded in 1657.
Colombia has been a very unexpected and interesting place for us to visit, we are glad we took the journey.