We really blew our budget on tours in Africa, Australia, and Indonesia for this world cruise, so on our second time cruising through the Panama Canal and Central America we’re just doing Viking’s included (i.e.no extra cost) experiences. 

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Here in Cartagena – a port we actually missed in 2021 (Episode 150 – Sailing past Colombia ) – the included experience is a short 2 hour panoramic tour giving us an overview of Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, Old Town, and modern Bocagrande.

The cruise port doubles as a container port, and attests to the fact that Colombia is a major economic powerhouse for import/export.

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The castillo(castle)/fortress is located on the Hill of San Lázaro, where it was built by African enslaved labourers under Spanish supervision, beginning in 1536 and continuing for 121 years. Our guide today quipped that “the Spanish built nothing” – they provided the money and then hired Italians and Germans to design their buildings.

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At first look, the triangular shape looks almost like Mayan ruins, which made me wonder whether the Spaniards had simply “repurposed” an existing structure, in the same way that they dismantled Mayan temples in Mexico and used the stones to build Catholic cathedrals, but we’ve neither heard nor read anything to suggest that was the case – and apparently most of present day Colombia’s indigenous peoples were more nomadic than prone to building stone cities. Still … I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were in something ancient.

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The area just beyond the fort walls used to be ocean, and the fort intended to protect against ships. The current roadway and the grassy area in the first photo below is all reclaimed land, and ends up under water during storms.

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Is it weird to go shopping in dungeons? The bóvedas are 23 dungeons built between 1792 and 1796 and hidden within the 15 metre thick city walls of Cartagena. The vaults were used by the Spaniards as storerooms for munitions and provisions, and in the subsequent republican era became a jail. Today it is craft and souvenir shops that trap people here.

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We had no great desire to shop, but took the opportunity for a short walking tour.

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Our guide, Ender, explained that the way to ascertain the ages of buildings in Cartagena is to look at their balconies. Colonial buildings use wood; the newer republican era buildings use concrete.

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After a much too short tour, because the all on board time was 1:00 p.m. today in order for us to be on schedule for our Panama Canal transit, we headed back to the ship via Cartagena’s marvellous cruise terminal.

The cruise terminal in Cartagena truly is amazing! It has aviaries and ponds and trees and open areas hosting dozens of kinds of birds and other animals, all native to Colombia. We could definitely have spent more than our scant available 30 minutes here.

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After lunch, couple of glasses of wine, and a lovely conversation with Jim and Sandy from The Villages in Florida, and a couple of hours of looking through Ted’s photos of our day for today’s blog, it was time for dinner – although I really wasn’t hungry. Nonetheless, the tempting menu revived my appetite.

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Tonight’s special event in the theatre is one we always look forward to: the Holiday Show.

Remember back in the 1960’s when every big star had a holiday special? Dean Martin, Perry Como, and Judy Garland invited us into their “home” and various friends just happened to drop in to perform with them. (Michael Buble and Reba McIntyre have both done it more recently.) THAT is what tonight’s show was like, with various Viking cast members “dropping in” on Cruise Director Matt in his “living room”. It was a warm-hearted evening, highlighted by Christmas wishes in every language represented within the Viking crew.

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We arrived in our room after the show to find home-made panettone! That might just be breakfast tomorrow.

Tomorrow we’re in Colón, Panama on a fairly early tour, so our alarm is set for 7:00 a.m. It’s almost like having eager children on Christmas morning!