Santa Marta

February 14, 2024Colombia, Travelbeach, Iglesia de San Francisco de Assisi, Santa Marta, wall artkarenfranza

Feb 12 – This morning we called an Uber to take us to the bus station, where we had tickets for the 10:00 van to Santa Marta. The van was semi air conditioned and played the Spanish version of the newer Avatar movie. Four hours later, we arrived in the beach town of Santa Marta.

We walked the few blocks to our apartment, but were faced with a locked lobby door. Unlike previous hosts, we realized that no one had reached out to us to tell us how to get into the building or who would have our key. We tried calling the number on our reservation and emailing Booking.com, but no bananas.

A man who lived in the building let us in, and walked with us to Apt. 302. One look in the window told us the sad truth – it was an empty apartment. Uh oh!

Others have shared their bad experiences with Booking.com, but out of hundreds of rentals over the years, this was the first time we were left high and dry. We got out our phones and sat down on the steps, and before too long, Jim had found us a nice hotel with air con and wifi, a block from the beach. Day saved!

A view from our hotel – can you see the water?

Santa Marta is a tourist town, with lots of trinkets, eateries and music playing in the streets. We found a seafood restaurant right on the beach, and watched the sunset over the water.

Not the day we planned, but still a good day!

Feb 13 – When you stay in a hotel, someone else makes your breakfast and washes the dishes! On a breezy terrace, we enjoyed our eggs, fruit and strong Colombian coffee. Birds stood on the ledge nearby to see if we would drop any crumbs.

This is the beginning of the relaxing part of our vacation. We walked around the small town. There is a church here:

There is a museum:

The way it was… note the servant fanning the flies off the food

There is wall art here:

A trolley rumbling down the beach street

And the beach:

A relaxing day.

More from Cartagena

February 12, 2024Colombia, TravelBotero Gertrudis, Cartagena, Catedral de Santa Catalina, Cervantes, iron statueskarenfranza

Feb 11 – This morning we walked down to the Catedral de Santa Catalina, which is open and airy.

In the square, we found a bronze Botero. Note the discoloration of the boobs and butt due to repeated handling!

There are lots of amusing little iron statues here:

There is a small park, with lots of people looking up. Turns out there is a resident sloth named Juan, and a few little monkeys.

As a bonus, we spied a friendly iguana who didn’t mind being photographed:

It is Super Bowl Sunday, and Jim scoped out several restaurants with big screen TVs for our dinner. We thought lots of tourists would be interested in watching the game, but we seemed to be the only ones. Congratulations to Team Taylor!

Cartagena

February 12, 2024Colombia, Travelarepas, Cartagena, door knockers, el Alcatraz, Getsemani, India Catalina, wall art, Walled citykarenfranza

Feb 10 – Our plane landed around 9pm, and a twenty minute taxi ride got us to the walled city of Cartagena (Car ta HAY na). A last minute text informed us that the apartment we rented had plumbing issues, and offered us an alternate address on a different street. Our taxi driver got us pretty close, and we walked the rest of the way down the jam-packed narrow street, bustling with tourists and music. Once at the door, Jim negotiated the coded lock, then another lock inside the lobby and a third lock at our door. This place is secure! We dropped into bed, exhausted.

Blue skies and palm trees in the morning

Statue of La India Catalina, a chief’s daughter kidnapped and enslaved by the Spaniards in the early 1500s

Cartagena is the port that the Spaniards originally used to ship their gold back to Europe. They built a fortified wall around the city to protect it from pirates (most notably Sir Francis Drake).

An excursion to the wall was our goal for the morning. While the weather in Bogotá was temperate, here it is HOT. At 9am it was 91 degrees with a real-feel of 103. Off we go!

We strolled along the wide top of the wall

A bull ring! We were told bullfighting is no longer practiced here

We are right on the Caribbean Sea, but this is not an area known for its beaches

Statue El Alcatraz (the Gannet), the local bird

After an arroz con pollo lunch (every area has their own version of chicken and rice), we retreated back to our air conditioned room to wait for the cooler temperatures of evening.

The name of our neighborhood is Getsemani, the area where the backpackers and groovy people hang out. It’s a tourist scene with lots of locals touting trinkets and offering tours.

Colorfully clad women are happy to pose with tourists…

…as long as they are adequately compensated. Their smiles are ONLY for the camera

At one point, a trio of young men with a boom box and a microphone followed gringos down the street while making up rap songs about them. Similar to mariachi bands in Mexican restaurants, they count on you to eventually pay them to leave you alone!

Since arriving in Colombia, I have been on a quest to taste an arepa – a delicious native cornflour griddle cake featured in Encanto (where Julietta’s arepas had healing powers). Every place we tried, even when the name of the restaurant had arepas in the title, we struck out. No arepas.

Today Jim spied a street vendor selling warm arepas filled with egg from a cart. We bought one, and pronounced it just okay. The search continues!

We were told to look at the door knockers in the old town, as the creatures depicted provided a clue as to who once lived inside.

Sea creatures adorned the doors of merchants who made their living from the sea…

Lizards depicted descendants of royalty…

Lions adorned the abodes of clergy or professors

An interesting day!

Bogotá: Street Art

February 11, 2024Colombia, TravelBogotá, street artkarenfranza

Feb 9 – This is our last day in Bogotá, and we wanted to see some of the famous street art. There was graffiti everywhere, but some that was art worthy of a museum.

Candelaria is the name of our neighborhood, so I guess this is all Candelarte!

Tonight we Uber back to the airport for a 90 minute flight north. Tomorrow… Cartagena!

Bogotá: Museo de Botero

February 10, 2024Colombia, Travelart, Bogotá, Museo de Boterokarenfranza

Feb 8 – Today is a good day to check out more museums.

The military museum was free, so in we went. There was no English signage, so I can’t tell you any history, but there were lots of cannons and guns. Here are some interesting pix.

The plane seat once used by Pope John Paul II !

There were a group of art museums in one complex, and we wandered back and forth, so I didn’t capture names. Here are some of the most striking images:

Then it was time for the best museum of all – Museo Botero! Fernando Botero is considered the most iconic Colombian artist – his paintings and sculptures are prized around the world. I remember seeing one of his huge sculptures in Oviedo, Spain.

His works are distinctive – he sees figures with “volume” (do not say ‘fat’), and although his subjects never smile, we couldn’t help but grin as we walked from room to room.

Art overload, I know, but what a fantastic day!

Bogotá: Plaza de Bolivar

February 9, 2024Colombia, TravelBogotá, empanada, Iglesia de la Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, Museo del Oro, Plaza de Bolivarkarenfranza

Feb 7 – Jim found a tiny grocery right outside our modern apartment, so he cooked us eggs, toast and wonderful Colombian coffee for breakfast. The tap water is drinkable here, but the taps and the shower only ran cold. I was resigning myself to boiling a pot of water for washing dishes, when I found the water heater that had to be manually turned on. Success – clean dishes and hot showers in our future!

We walked to the historical center of the city, Plaza de Bolivar. Simon Bolivar is revered here for liberating Colombia (originally called New Granada) from the Spanish empire around 1820.

The plaza was full of little shops selling trinkets, produce, and good things to eat.

One of the must-see places in Bogotá is the Museo del Oro (Gold Museum). Lots of gold inside.

The chieftain covered himself in gold to acquire the power of the Sun

We recently saw a very similar serpent in Belgium!

I always like the faces on the little carvings

Back to the plaza for lunch and a virtual shopping tour.

Our day wouldn’t be complete without a church, so here is Iglesia de la Nuestra Señora de Candelaria.

Jim found a well stocked supermercado on the way home, so we will enjoy homemade chicken and rice soup for supper, with fresh tropical fruit for dessert. A lovely day.

Colombia

February 7, 2024Colombia, TravelBogotá, pesokarenfranza

February 6, 2024 – It’s been an unusually cold winter in Virginia, so it feels like a good time to escape to someplace warm. How does Colombia sound?

Ever since watching Encanto with the grands (at least a dozen times), Colombia has been on our list of places to visit. We plan to stay in Bogotá up in the mountains, Cartagena on the Caribbean, and Santa Marta, further north. Here’s a map:

Bogotá is a 4.5 hour flight south from Atlanta, still in the eastern time zone, so no jet lag – yay! The city is 8600 feet above sea level, so we may need a day to acclimate to the thinner atmosphere. The weather this week is ideal, high about 70 every day.

One US dollar is worth approximately 4000 Colombian pesos (fluctuates daily), so conversion should be fun. The official Colombian dance is cumbia, which I do in Zumba, so I will fit right in!

Our plane landed at about 7:30pm, and we used an airport ATM to get money for a taxi to our apartment. We were advised to only use a metered yellow taxi at the airport, although there were plenty of drivers at the exit wanting to take us for a ride. Luckily, our taxi driver knew right where our apartment was, as Google was off by about half a mile.

Although we did nothing but sit in airport seats and plane seats all day, we were exhausted and went right to bed. Tomorrow we will explore!

Bruges: the Gruuthuse Museum and the Church of Our Lady

October 21, 2023Belgium, TravelBelgian waffle, Bruges, Brugge, Church of Our Lady, Gruuthuse Museum, Michelangelo Madonna and Childkarenfranza

Oct 17 – This is our last full day in Bruges. Every morning we see something new.

We visited the Gruuthuse Museum, which shows what an upper class home from the 15th century looked like, and houses a diverse collection of this and that.

Some of the illustrated manuscripts were quite gruesome

Belgian lace was incorporated into ladies bonnets

In one room, you could look through a window to see the inside of the church next door – it looked beautiful!

So, we went next door to visit the Church of Our Lady.

This church had Gregorian chants playing throughout, which made it sound like monks were working hard nearby, and made everything feel peaceful and holy.

The sanctuary looks much like it did in the 1500s

Here is the window we saw in the museum, that enabled the rich family to observe what was going on in the church

There were some things we hadn’t seen before.

Tombs with decorations on the inside – images of heaven to help the deceased get where they were going

A painting of the Last Supper where they served bread, wine and… chicken?

Now, you know I’ve saved the best for last. This church holds the Madonna of Bruges, the only statue by Michelangelo that left Italy during his lifetime. It depicts Jesus not as an infant, but a toddler standing on his own, and Mary looking down sadly.

The piece is not life size, and small enough to transport. It was taken by Napoleon to Paris, returned after his defeat, then taken by Hitler‘s men to Germany, where it was recovered and returned by the Monuments Men.

The Madonna of Bruges just above the altar, with larger statues on either side

Our trip to Bruges would not be complete without one final thing – a Belgian waffle dripping with chocolate. It was messy, but we enjoyed every bite!

Oct 18 – Got up early for the five hour bus ride back to Amsterdam via Ghent, Brussels and Rotterdam.

We got to see the sunrise through the bus window

We caught a glimpse of the Norte Dame Cathedral in Brussels when the bus stopped at a light.

One night at an airport hotel, then it was back to Schiphol Airport for the flight to JFK and then home.

Thanks for the memories, Holland and Belgium – we will miss you!

Bruges: The Belfort and the City Hall

October 20, 2023Belgium, TravelBelfort, Bell Tower, Bruges, Brugge, City Hall, Stadhuiskarenfranza

Oct 16 – We are back on the beautiful main square.

The must-do thing for every tourist in Bruges is to climb the 366 steps to the top of the Belfort, or carillon bell tower. In addition to the entrance ticket, you also have to reserve a time to climb, and the automated response is, “we hope you are fit!”

The displays inside are all about bells. The carillon has 47

The carillon has been a Bruges attraction for hundreds of years

In the Drum Room, we saw the rotating drums that determine the order in which each bell is rung.

The bells ring every quarter hour. The noise is incredible!

Then it was on to the Stathuis, or City Hall, built in the 1300s, and still in use today.

Beautiful painted wood interior with murals all around

This mural depicts the Holy Blood being delivered to the Church, during the Crusades. We visited that church the other day.

Another lovely day.

Bruges: the Marathon and the Groeninge Museum

October 18, 2023Belgium, TravelBruges, Brugge, Groeninge Museum, marathonkarenfranza

Oct 15 – Today is Sunday, the day of the Brugge Marathon. We saw all the white tents and signs with instructions for the runners being assembled yesterday. Our plan was to go to the go to the art museum this morning to avoid the crowds.

Little did we know, but the marathon runners came right down our street! We weren’t permitted to cross the road, and ended up taking a detour of back streets, trying to get closer to the museum.

Finally, the runner thinned so we could jog across the road

The Groeninge Museum has ten rooms, with the works grouped by time. The first, medieval room was full of Madonnas and funny looking babies that I feel compelled to share.