A pirate's town - historic centre

We had a lazy morning and went to the Getsemani area to look into boats to Panama. Hostal Mamallena had an English girl who was really helpful and booked us onto the  S/Y Quest, one of the larger boats with the fewest passengers. We're not sure if we get a cabin or are dossing in the salon but it has good reviews compared to the other one available which purportedly has a captain who is constantly drunk / stoned! Fingers crossed...

In the afternoon we headed to the historic centre. First stop was a posh coffee shop where they were very scientific about their coffee making...weighing, measuring and swirling everything. Anna was suitably impressed with the result. Next it was my turn to get my fix at the Gelateria Paradiso, a very quaint ice cream parlour where we both had 2 scoops of the most amazing Italian style ice cream (17,000P).

Then we walked around the outside fortress wall complete with cannons (to protect against numerous pirate attacks) before wandering around the multitude of inner streets - gorgeous, colourful, colonial houses, churches, parks etc with horse drawn carriages trotting along and outdoor dining areas around every corner.

Anna was overheating so we stopped in a bar and she had a virgin mojito to cool her down. It tasted so good I had a proper one which was the best mojito I've had in a long time, only 7,000P and they aren't stingy with the rum! We shared a passion fruit one too then wandered some more coming across a dance group where the boys shook their bodies amazingly fast.

For dinner I had an amazing falafel and aubergine wrap at La Sandwicheria, a tiny little place which was candlelit (possibly a power cut?). Anna ordered the Mustafa (!) wrap by mistake thinking it was falafel when it was kofta, but still enjoyed it (40,000P). We sat outside and some kids came round rapping for money, slightly spoiling the ambience but quite entertaining nonetheless.

On the way back home we stopped at a supermarket in the search for Colombian chocolate. There was, surprisingly, very little available and we have learnt from our experience in Mexico this might be because it's not worth it. We bought a box of the only brand: Chocobox and gobbled them down - they were discoloured from the heat, tasted okay but not really like chocolate! Nothing worth repeating unlike Ecuadorian chocolate which was very yummy.

Cartagena is one of the first places I remember Anna mentioning when we first started planning this trip since it is a pirate town in the Caribbean and we'd both been really looking forward to it. Yesterday we were a bit disappointed by the beach, today the old town more than made up for it...we are completely in love with it! The old town is absolutely beautiful, has a great vibe and we both agree it's one of our favourite places in the world - Anna says it probably beats Rome as far as being a visual feast and I'm inclined to agree. Captain Jack wouldn't look out of place here in the slightest and we wander why they haven't filmed any of the series here - they should!Read more