In Passing snapshot - The Palace Guards

The "Casa de Nariño" is Colombia´s presidencial Palace where you will see the Presidencial Guards at watch ath the gates dressed in they traditional garb.

The trip to Colombia - Obleas Mick Jagger

What´s Mick doing in Bogota? first I gotta tell you what an "Oblea" is.
An Oblea is a Colombian version of a wafer, round in shape and thin, normally sandwiched with arequipe caramel ( a sort of Dulce de leche) or jam.
Now This smart man took advantage of Mick Jaggers visit to his stand and branded his Obleas "Mick Jagger"

If you happen to walk by it do´nt miss the opportunity to try them out.

The trip to Colombia - Cartagena - Heading to Santa Marta and Tairona

Now when asking around in Cartagena on how to get to Santa Marta and Tairona beach, several people told me that there were two options one called "Berlina and another called "Sol Mar", but some insisted that Solmar was best, even though the price was nearly double.
So I opted for going to Santa Marta via Solar and returning with Berlina.
Solmar offers pick up, but I decided to walk to their terminal that is right at the edge of the walled city, not far from where I was staying, the service was good and they left me right downtown Santa Marta in 4 hours.
Returning I used Berlina only to find that they depart and arrive from the Bus terminal that in both cities are way outside the city and require you to grab a taxi, that in the end ads up to more that the Solmar price and takes more time to get back and forth from the terminal. The service is also good on a bigger bus than Solmar.

The trip to Colombia - Cartagena at night

I would say that colonial cities render most their mystique at nighttime with their lamps reflecting on cobblestones on an empty street.

But in crowded touristic spots you might find it complicated cuz you´ll have people wondering around till very ungodly hours.

My recommendation is to get up early one day to catch the sunset and do an hour or two of nighttime pics with your tripod.

The trip to Colombia - Cartagena - Boca Grande

From the walled city you will see some sky-rises to your left, that is not the business district, That area is called "boca" grande and it has some nice beaches to explore, the buildings are just apartments of the wealthy in Colombia that have them for their vacations.
There is also a shopping mall that you can check out if you need to buy some over-marked clothing or if you miss fast food you can go to the food court and get yourself that burger you crave for.

The trip to Colombia - Cartagena - Barrio San Diego

If you walk along the walls you will eventually find the ""Recova" called like that for its arches. A former army barrack now turned tourist attraction,besides the great pic opportunity you will find well stocked souvenir and emerald stores where you can buy your I´ve been here stuff.

Nested on the walls it is a historical place where people lived and died.

The trip to Colombia - Cartagena - Door fixtures

In Cartagena you will find that most colonial doorways are ornamented with elaborate door fixtures od door knoks mostly made of bronce.

You can spend a whole day just looking round and photographing these beautiful ornaments.

The trip to Colombia - Cartagena - The Walls

One of the first things you might want to do is walk all around the cities walls, that will give you a feeling of the layout of the walled part of Cartgena.

you can walk on the wall and see the ocean and a vantage point view of the old city.

The trip to Colombia - Cartagena - walled city and Getsemani

You might choose to spend most of your trip exploring the historic parta of Cartagena or alternate with some of the most spectacullar beaches found nearby.

You need to know that the epicenter of Colonial Cartagena is the "Barrio getsemani" and the walled City or "Ciudad amurallada", there you will find most of the monuments, churches and Colonial buildings.

take your time to discover all the small details on door fixtures and balconies and you can spend several days touring the city.

The trip to Colombia - Cartagena -Getting there

Definitelly Cartagena is the main atraction Colombia has to offer, you could even skip Bogota for that matter. Cartgena is one of the prettiest cities in the Ameicas matching Quebec city (Canada), puebla (Mexico) and Fortaleza (Brazil).

In my case I went from Bogota via twingo low cost airline for 50 bucks round trip.
The Rafael Nuñez Aiport is very close to the Old city, you could even walk, but do grab a a cab specially if it hot.
Do not take a cab a at the Airport, actually never do that anywhere, just ask and walk one block to the "Calle 70" and there look for the tiny Hyundai cabs, not anything bigger. Those cabs are shared and they pick up people as they go, they will honk at you or u can do the peace sign, that actually means two for $2000 pesos that is the going fare.

And thus avoiding being overcharged on arrival.

The trip to Colombia - Bogota - Tropical fruit

Like every tropical country, Colombia has a wide selection of tropical fruit like mango, mangostino, pitaya, guayaba,chirimoya, papaya and even bananas that will taste totally different from the green picked variaty you normally buy at the supe.

Now to savour the real flavour you gotta buy the ones sold on the streets that are picked ripe right out of the tree, be it whole or in a juice you will experience the real tropical experience.

The trip to Colombia - Bogota - Museo del Oro

The natives in America did not atribute economic power to gold but instead it was used for sacred ornaments, in Bogota you will find one of the biggest pre colombian gold collections in the world at the "Museo del Oro" holding more than 50.000 gold artifacts spread over three floors.

Also some hispanic religious ornaments like "La Lechuga" a richly decorated monstrance from the time of the colony, called the lettuce for its green colour given by the amount of ametists it carries.

The trip to Colombia - Hotel de la Opera

Right beside the Cristoval Colon theatre in the Centro histórico de Bogota you will find the "Hotel de la Opera" a Colonial manor turned Hotel.

If your budget allows you it is a magnificent place to stay in Bogota.

If not you can allways have a drink or a meal at the resto that sits on its terrace and take in the spectacular view of the old city, I tried the picada bogota which is a selection of finger food treats.

The trip to Colombia - Bogota - Plaza Bolivar

The Bolivar square is one of Bogota´s most Iconic square the site of all the state, munipal,religious and judicial power.

There you will see beautifull architecture with each side adorned by the Cathedral, the Palacio de Justicia, the municipal Palace and the Congress, besides the thousands of pigeons that gather there to be fed.

The trip to Colombia - Bogota - La puerta Falsa

A must go in Bogota if you want to taste well prepared Bogotan food is " La puerta Falsa" a micro restaurant right beside the cathedral at plaza Bolivar.

you can go for breackast or lunch, ( there are only two items in the linch menu, Tamales or ajiaco soup) I had the typical Bogotan breakafast, pictured above which consists of chocolate and bread as well as a tamal and changua a soup made with milk eggs and bread, very stommach friendly and hearty.

depending on the tme you arive, there might be a wait cuzthe joint is really tiny, but it adds to the show to see the waiters juggle dishes to climb the stairs to the top floor, where I reccomend seating.

The trip to Colombia - Bogota - Moving around

Bogota used to be one of the worst cities around the world to move around and it still is outside the transmilenio, which is Bogota´s public transit sistem.

As you will see the tree wagon buses replicate a subway on the surface and its operation is identical, you have stations to hop on and off and make transfers, same as a subway. All you need to do is buy the card for 5000 pesos ($ 1.5 american) and load it up with credit for 2500 pesos s a trip.
Even from the airport you can catch them and save the rip off taxi fares.

The trip to Colombia - Bogota - Centro Histórico

Being  a city of 7 million inhabitants you will find a lot of Contrasts in Bogota from skyscrapers to the "Centro Histórico" which is very well kept in all its Colonial charm.

lots of coble stoned streets that go up and down will bring you through artisan markets, bars and coffe shops all geared towards tourism of course.

Take your time to admire the details on doors, windows and balconies, and take advantage of sunshine when available cuz the normal weather here is clody and foggy.