On our first day on the cruise, we went to a meeting about what to do in Cartagena. The speaker did not tell us why, but he encouraged us to spend at least 20 minutes in the port! We would arrive at 8:30 and leave at 5:30 and it was a Sunday.
My husband's list for the day included San Felipe Castle, Church Santo Domingo and the Inquisition Palace. We were told taxis to Old Town walled city would be $10 from the terminal.
On Sunday, we got up at 7:15, got ready, and headed to breakfast. It was our first breakfast and it did not disappoint. I ate some French toast, a donut, eggs, sausage, and some more. I had to take a photo of the donuts to show the kids when we returned home!
We got off the ship around 8:45 and walked to the port. It was amazing! The welcome center was full of birds of all kinds - peacocks, peahens, macaws, and even monkeys and other animals like anteaters! We took a ton of photos.
As you can see in the next picture, some of the birds did not like having their photos taken. My husband was taking a progression of photos of this macaw I was standing next to and you could see him getting closer and closer to me until he bit my hand! I told the men who worked there after it happened and they just said, "Oh, he bit you?" Ha! It left a mark, but it didn't break the skin!
Next we decided to walk a ways to get away from the port and see if we could get a taxi to the center if it took too long. It was pretty hot and early in the morning on a Sunday, so we didn't see many people out walking. We didn't ever feel unsafe. We walked about 20 minutes and then decided to get a taxi for $5 to the center.
We walked around in the center for a while. We found free wifi at one point and made a call home to say hi to the kids. We walked around some of the streets and along the wall that was around the center. It was colorful and the people were all friendly - very much like Panamanians.
My husband loved all of the unique door knockers on the huge outer doors around the center of town. You could find some that looked like fish, iguanas, the sun, lions, and many other creatures! They all looked really old too!
Next we decided to walk to the fort. This is the largest fort in all of the Americas. It did not disappoint. It costs $10 per ticket to enter the fort. You have to basically climb up to it on a windy pathway, and after walking a ways from the city center, we were tired when we reached the top. It was really warm, but quite windy up there as well.
Ever the architect and historian, my husband really loved this part of the day. He explored every tunnel and part of the fort and enjoyed his time. We even got to watch a little film about the fort and how it would have been when it was open and occupied with troops.
After we finished at the fort, we walked back to the port the same way we had come before. The streets were still pretty empty. We made a stop in a cemetery we saw along the way just to see what graves looked like in Colombia.
We made it back to the port and decided to walk through the welcome center again. This time we found a money that I tried to feed a donut I had taken with me from breakfast. The money was not interested at all. He was more interested in catching a moth out of mid-air and eating its head off!
We took a few more photos and enjoyed the last little bit of seeing all of the peafowl in the area! There were hundreds of them I would say - all up in the trees! If you ever get a chance to check out the port in Cartagena, it is well worth it!
We headed back to the ship for a late lunch around 2:00. I told my husband he should pretend to pull the lines like he was pulling the ship in and I snapped his photo. Ha!
After lunch, we checked out the sauna, "hot" tub, and pool in the afternoon. We decided the pool was too shallow and crowded for our taste, but we did like the dry and wet saunas.
That evening, they were having a spa raffle, so we went there. Really not too many people were there, so our chances were pretty good, but we didn't end up winning anything. I think that worked out in our favor as we weren't forced to spend money on a spa service to be able to use our "free" coupon.
Next it was dinner time. We were on the flexible dining time, so ours started at 7:30, which is kind of late for us! We had a nice meal of steak and artichoke dip with some desserts. Yum! Tonight's attire was casual, but we dressed up a little!
After dinner we attended Ballroom Fever, a dance show with songs and dances. It was really good and they even had a few songs in Spanish. I really enjoyed watching the dance crew (and I met them later in the cruise and found out they're all American and in their early 20s). They really did a great job!
With nothing else on our schedule, we decided to go to bed early (which is something we would do at home anyway). We headed to bed around 9:30 and were looking forward to a sea day the next day!
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