9/10 & 11: Cartagena: OMG - Pope Francis & More!

Note: The photos in this post actually span the entire time we spent in Cartagena as we saw most of the places at least twice so I have taken the liberty of choosing the best ones.

We learned shortly before arriving in Cartagena that our stay in the city coincided with Pope Francis' visit here as part of his tour of Colombia. As soon as we crossed over from Centennial Park, we spotted masses of people on either side of the barricades as far as we could see. As we walked toward the old city with the intention of walking along the massive city walls, it was a no brainer  to change our plans and try and see the pope if at all possible. 

Trying to catch a glimpse of Pope Francis would be phenomenal but we didn't hold out much hope of seeing much as it was likely that most everyone else had been waiting patiently for hours to get such good vantage points. Unlike most of the rest of the crowd who probably knew every detail of the Pope's visit to their hometown, we were in total ignorance as to his arrival time and where he'd be preaching, etc. 

We finally got a good vantage point from which we hoped we could see the pope as he passed by and stayed put! We had last seen Pope John Paul II in his pope boat on the Ottawa Canal on September 9^th, 1985, almost exactly 32 years ago. 

We sure did lots of waiting but we didn't mind as we knew this would be a very special occasion regardless of how much or how little we saw. 

The police presence was, as you can see from these photos, very strong. 

The constant roar of the helicopters buzzing overhead was almost deafening but of course, a necessary security requirement in this day and age especially.

When I saw the press vehicle, I figured the pope must be coming through the opening in the city walls very soon now. I've deleted all the other gazillion photos that showed all the other advance cars that preceded the pope's grand entrance.

At long last, Pope Francis arrived in his pope mobile! I wish you could have heard everyone shouting and screaming his name as soon as they caught sight of His Holiness. It was an incredibly special moment

We were lucky enough to get some halfway decent shots considering we hadn’t lined up hours ahead as other faithful had likely done as the pope passed by in his pope mobile. Being in such a large crowd waiting for him to arrive was very exciting but it got a little scary, too, when some people got so enthusiatic, they began pushing others trying to get a picture of the pope. I can see how terribly easy crowds can get out of control in absolutely no time at all and mayhem ensues. 

The best thing to do when there were so many people was to simply hold up your camera or ipad as Steven and I both did and click away and hope we weren't just taking pictures of others doing the same thing. Sometimes that worked; other times, it obviously didn't! 

These next pictures Steven took more than made up for the shots of everyone holding up their cellphones and taking photos. Disregard the arrows in the photos below - they're from a video Steven unintentionally took with his ipad. I think they're the best photos by far.

 Unfortunately, his motorcade drove by far too quickly for anyone's satisfaction other than his security detail but still everyone's eyes were pealed on the pope.

As expected, vendors had been walking up and down the barricades selling all manner of things pope-related: hats and t-shirts with his image as well as endless offers imploring us to buy agua fria and inexpensive jewelry.

Our last sight of the pope:

We then walked a fair piece to Castillo de San Felipe in the southern part of the city in the blistering heat and humidity; it was so sticky, it felt like my clothes were glued to my body. 

I could only think I needed to forget about wearing t-shirts and panties twice – not a chance in this heat! Once we had schlepped all the way there, we discovered it, too, was closed because of the papal visit. 

 

The Castillo is the greatest fortress ever built by the Spaniards in any of their colonies and it dominated a large section of Cartagena’s cityscape atop the Lazaro hill. The original fort, commissioned in 1630, was quite small but an extensive enlargement was undertaken in 1762 which resulted in the entire hill being covered over with this powerful bastion. Despite numerous attempts to storm it, the fortress was never taken.

Steven returned there the following day by himself as the combination of the heat and my sore foot had gotten to me so I just enjoyed the AC in our small room and called each of the children instead. Here are some of his shots from September 11th for you to enjoy. 

The late afternoon city skyline from the Castillo:

In 1984, the historic center of the city of Cartagena de Indias with its fortifications and San Felipe Castle were included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. According to UNESCO, the set of all thse buildings were the 'most complex in South America.'

 Two lovebirds atop the castle!

A complex system of tunnels connected strategic points of the fortress to distribute provisions and to make evacuation easier. The tunnels were constructed in such a way that any noise echoed all the way along them, making it possible to hear the slightest sound of the approaching enemy’s feet and also making it easy for internal communications. 

The castle is considered one of the seven wonders of Colombia and is part of the country's cultural and historical heritage.

Back to 9/10: After only seeing the outskirts of the castle together, we made our way over to the Monument of Lost Shoes.

The bronze cast statue was erected in honor of Don Luis Carlos Lopez, a Cartagena poet who became famous for the sonnet 'To my native city.' Every other Cartagena's historical marker had been very informative but this one missed the mark, unfortunately, and never explained what the shoes represented. Their significance was lost on me.

On the way back to the hotel where we needed a siesta to get out of the heat, we stopped at an unusual shop. It was a combination barber, travel agent and tailor, a jack of all trades if there ever was one. Thanks to a local man who has family in Toronto, I was able to convey I needed the cotton strap on my new bag from Panama to be shortened. The other client and I chatted a bit about Canada. He said, I kid you not, how he thought Canada was like a monastery as it was so quiet and safe!

I thought it would take the tailor all of two minutes to cut the strap and sew the end together. But he was far more thorough and removed the strap altogether on one side so the new seam would be less visible. The cost was a reasonable $3.

After getting our energy back, we walked to the opposite end of the old city, to the San Diego neighborhood in the far north end. On the way, we stopped at the Palace of the Inquisition but it, too, was closed  because of the papal visit - another place to return to tomorrow. 

We loved the the San Diego area's brightly colored buildings and being able to stroll along the quieter streets where we could walk down the middle without risking life and limb.

Often when vsiting a new city, we take a few minutes to gaze around the most special hotel in that city. In Cartagena, that hotel was definitely the Santa Clara, a most charming one in the San Diego part of town.  

  

The old town was surrounded by Las Muralles, thick walls built to protect the town against enemies. Construction began near the end of the 16th century after the attack by Francis Drake but wasn’t completed for almost 200 years because of repeated damage from both storms and pirate attacks. They weren’t finished until 1790, just 25 years before the Spanish were eventually expelled. We started our stroll atop the city walls in the San Diego neighborhood.

Zachary: This shot's for you, hon! I hope you get to Cartagena someday as I think you'd love the old town especially.

Nuns enjoying themselves on the walls on 9/11:

Lovers canoodling by the walls, also on 9/11.

Below the walls in this area were Las Bovedas, 23 dungeons built between in 1792 and 1796. They were the last major construction carried out in colonial times and were for military purposes. The vaults were used by the Spaniards as storerooms for munitions and provisions. Later, they were turned into a jail. Now, they were rather touristy craft and souvenir shops. But of course, we didn't know that until we popped into pretty well all of them and had to see for ourselves!

Seeing these buildings from the walls made both of us feel like we needed to go up and touch them as they looked like they were trompe l'oeil paintings.

A glimpse of  Nobel Prize Winner for Literature writer and famous Colombian Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s San Diego neighborhood home from the walls. On his death in 2014, he was described by the Colombian president as 'the greatest Colombian who ever lived.'

On the side of his home was a drawing of him with one of his sayings: 'No place in the life is sadder than an empty bed.'

It was a day later that we both realized the enormous impact seeing the pope had had on both of us. Seeing him was the most momentous association we’ll certainly bring away from our visit to Cartagena. No church, no museum could possibly have surpassed that. To think we seriously had considered the possibility of leaving the city and spending the day on a nearby beach instead...

Next post: Cartagena: Take Three

Posted from Santa Marta, Colombia on September 14th, 2017.