Ship docks downtown. Prior to my arrival, I had been in contact with Ana (www.qualityguidedtours.com/); she was great in communicating with me prior to the cruise and assigned a wonderful guide who turned a 3 hr tour into 4+ hrs of wonderful history and stories. Eight brave souls from the ship joined us, and we met our guide at the designated point.
Cartagena has an interesting history: founded by the Carthaginians, it eventually became part of the Roman Empire. “Ula” (hope I spelled her name right), our guide, started our tour explaining the old town and the five small hills (like Rome) and the various fortifications. We walked to a museum of the “Punic Walls” excavation; this is a new museum and very interesting. An unexpected treat was the crypt inside the museum which was discovered during the excavation. You are allowed to actually walk down into the crypt and see the remains up close and personal… creepy but extremely interesting.
We were then taken to the Bull Ring, Roman Theater and rode the elevator to the Castle. As our tour ended, we were right in the downtown area. Numerous restaurants, tourist shops but also a vast variety of local stores offering a variety of quality products; easy to spend $$$$. Great little town and well worth the visit.
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