Cartagena?

[m steve]

What is there to do at this port? Is there a safety problem? Do they hustle you to buy drugs? Any shopping here and what about good lunch places? Thanks.

[dfb]

Whoa! No more safety problems than any other port, in my experience. No drug hustling! Plenty of regular shopping, plus the Colombian specialties of emeralds and coffee. What to do... I think of this as more European-type port with the history and architecture. There is a board specifically for Colombia and you should really visit it and read through some of the Cartagena threads. I expect most of the questions you could ever have about a port call at Cartagena have been asked and answered there. Below is a link to our blog entry for our day there.

http://circle-south-america-2008-aboard.blogspot.com/2008/01/day-5-tuesday-jan-8-cartagena-columbia.html

Debbie

[floridatravelersforlife]

The Quest stopped there last November. Surpisingly big, cosmopolitan city, much unspoiled and quaint history. Lovely area, not yet developed with honky tonk, souvenir shops. What Mexico City was like 50 years ago.

 

There's the rub, if you are looking for well oiled tourist machines, this is not the place. Tourism is still developing

 

Don't be mislead by the past drug issue, it is cleaned up where the tourists troll. There are no drug dealers on street corners like in NYC or LA. The US cities are more dangerous.