Ever since watching Romancing The Stone (Michael Douglas fans? Anyone?) , the mystic of Cartagena conjures images of adventure and intrigue. We chose a shore excursion on the Hop on bus as our mode of exploring the city.

The port is busy and very commercial. We pull in to the sheltered Bay Area in the mist and fog of early morning.

Once we are docked our meeting time for the tour is 10 am. And it’s impressive how they manoeuvre the group off the ship. Very efficient and smooth considering the vast majority of guests on board are seniors.

We are immediately hit by the muggy heat as we exit the ship and head to the bus. The tour bus is right outside the ship and we make our way to the open top (there’s no AC). We feel damp before we do anything but sit!

Our tour guide provides a bit of preliminary information: the city has just shy of 1M inhabitants, it was founded in the 1500’s, there is an old city behind the walls, and a newer section boasting high rise buildings. There’s a fort and a castle and several churches. The museum of the inquisition houses artifacts and other historical items from the inquisition era (which they promptly hid from view for the popes visit some years ago)

There is one unique feature of the port which is a free zoo and wildlife preserve.

Next stop: the canal.