Cartagena is a seaport city on the Caribbean coast of northwestern Colombia.Wikipedia
The short duration of the stopover meant that the sightseeing time was also short. We chose the former of two Chinese tours, one of the old town and one of the old town plus folk dancing, which lasted all of six hours. We chose the former. It is less than an hour's walk from the dock to the old town and about ten minutes by taxi, so many people choose to travel freely.
At nine o'clock *** with the tour group, a large number of tour buses were already parked on the pier. The tour guide is an old local gentleman, looking at the skin color and hair texture, apparently a mestizo (mestizo, mixed race), that is, the Spanish (or Portuguese), Indians and African blacks of mixed race. In several countries in Central and South America, such as Colombia, mestizos make up the majority of the population.
The Spaniards discovered (came to) Colombia in 1501, and it became a Spanish colony until Colombia's independence (1819). Cartagena was founded in 1533 and was once the third largest city in Latin America. It has a population of about one million and is divided into two parts: the Old Town and the New Town. The Old Town, built during the Spanish colonial period, was declared a World Heritage Site in 1984.
Since it is listed as a World Heritage Site, it must have its own historical and cultural significance. Our first attraction is the San Felipe Castle. This fortification was built in 1536, grayish-black, on a hillock on the seashore, like a part of the hillock. In 1741, the British Admiral Edward Vernon led an attack, which was repulsed by the Spanish Admiral Blas de Lezo, known as the Battle of Cartagena in the West Indies.
Fort San Felipe, built in 1533.
In front of the castle stands a bronze statue of Lazo, with a circular bronze plaque on a pedestal, depicting two men, the left standing and holding a sword, and the right kneeling and awarding the sword to the standing man. This is when the British army attempted to capture the castle, in order to motivate the morale of the special casting of the shield. Standing for the British general Vernon, kneeling for the Spanish garrison general Leso. I asked our guide if the shield set on a pedestal was an original or a replica, and the answer was that it was an original, though I was a bit skeptical.
We only stayed at the Castle of San Felipe for twenty minutes, and it was not possible to go up to the castle for a visit, but only to look at the exterior from a distance. Across the street from the castle are a number of small stores selling souvenirs. I do not buy things, just look at the appearance of the castle is a little reluctant, a short walk to the left, is the sea wall, which is an extension of the castle. At this point there were quite a few brown pelicans soaring in the sky, and I was my first time seeing this bird.
Brown pelicans are found in North and northern South America, and are common along the Cartagena waterfront. Li Zhifu photo
Cartagena San Felipe Castle, as well as the gates and walls of the old city, was built by 300,000 black slaves! Walking on the city walls has an eerie feeling. The gold, emeralds, and other treasures that the colonizers looted from Central and South America were shipped first to Cartagena and then across the Atlantic back to Spain. There are parts of Cartagena that are filled with blood and tears, so that people can not bear to look back at history.
Spain and Portugal are the oldest colonizers, they destroyed the Indian civilization in Central and South America, they brought diseases, so that the Indians in Central and South America in a short period of time died ninety percent! Since there was a shortage of labor, black slaves were imported from Africa. The West and Portugal were the originators of the slave trade.
Then proceed to the Old Town shopping area for fifty minutes. The stores are embedded in the walls of the city and look like caves. Originally used for storing ammunition and holding black slaves, it has been renovated and painted, with walls and pillars painted apricot yellow, door frames painted ochre, and pillars trimmed in white, so that it doesn't feel so sterile.
The clothes and art sold in the stores are all intricately patterned and colorful, and there is not a single monochrome one to be seen. In other words, there are more black than Spanish elements. The store only takes dollars, but pesos are given for change. One U.S. dollar translates into 3256 pesos! The Colombian economy is in the doldrums.
After the shopping area, the tour bus dropped off in front of the San Pedro Claver Church, which was built in 1699 and is a local landmark church. Then you can follow a guided walking tour, which is an hour and a half according to the scheduled itinerary, listing three highlights: San Pedro Claver Church, Plaza de Santa Teresa, and Plaza de Bolivar.
The Church of San Pedro Claver is dedicated to the Jesuit Father St. Peter, who baptized 300,000 black slaves and was therefore canonized after his death, and there are several statues of him in the old town. St. Teresa's Square, named after the convent, where the negroes brought in that year were bought and sold, delivered, branded on their backs and taken to various places for hard labor.
Bolivar Square, in honor of Bolivar, the hero of the revolution in Central and South America, there is a statue of him on horseback in the square. Bolivar led the uprising, which made El Salvador, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Peru and other places to break free from Spain and gain independence. The name of the country of Bolivia, is named after him.
The buildings in the old city, in addition to churches, bell towers, etc., most of the streets and alleys of the residential two to three-story buildings, roofs for the red tiles, the facade to white, apricot yellow, pink, ochre, blue, green, etc., take its two to three colors mixed and matched, which can be said to be a variant of the Spanish-style architecture. Some of the brightly dressed, head of the fruit of the black women through the streets, more and more added to the sense of color of this tropical city in Latin America.
In front of the old castle, African-American women dressed in bright colors with fruits on their heads are photographed. Li Zhifu photo
The weather is too hot, the elderly guide a little unbearable, quickly took us back to *** place San Pedro Claver Church. Rest for more than half an hour, get on the car to a restaurant with the flag of nations hanging in front of the door for lunch. The Mir people come here to eat in three steps, each step for an hour, about the same time can cope with three or four cars, we are the last step.
Everyone was hot and thirsty, but drinks were only served once, and you had to pay extra for the second time, even if it was just plain water. Peace passengers, especially the younger ones, like to take pictures of their food and pass them on to their friends. I never did. Let's see what we ate this day. There was shrimp salad, coconut rice the size of a baseball, fried sweet potatoes and fish fillets. The flavors, well, let's just say I was hungry and gobbled them down anyway.
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