Medellin is flanked by large mountains on all sides with huge stretches of the city climbing up the hill sides. The weather is consistently slightly breezy and around 60-70 degrees farenheit year round.
I happened to be traveling to Medellin when the "Feria de las Flores" (Festival of Flowers) was happening. Much of the city was covered with beautiful flowers in many public spaces and streets.
The yearly festival is based off of the large carts of flowers that the flower sellers would bring in from the countryside over the mountains into the city.
Plaza Cisneros, aka the Plaza of Lights, is one of the amazing stories of a reformed Colombia. Once a marketplace where prostitution, drug trade, and poverty was rampant, the city removed the decrepit structures and replaced it with a huge public open air park with large pillars that lights up at night.
World renown artist Botero donated 23 of his bronze sculptures to the city and made it available to the public to view. Each piece individually is worth millions.
The Uribe Palace of Culture is also located in this city center and features a gothic architecture designed by a Belgium architect.
A hearty Colombian meal: fried pork belly, plantains, beans, coconut rice, fried egg, and avocado.
The old walled city of Cartagena, which exists next to the very metropolitan part of the city, is like a time capsule of a forgotten era long ago. Once the home of slave trading, it now serves as the shining jewel of the city with many trendy bars, restaurants, and shops.
The plants and flowers of Colombia are some of the most diverse and beautiful. The year round temperate weather has made its coffee crops known around the world.
Inside Maria, the upscale restaurant boasts new-age Colombian provisions and libations. In a town where you can have lunch for less than $5, Colombia's fine dining food scene is still in its infancy with a few fine dining establishments opening up.
Street food is all over the place in Colombia with hot dogs, arepas, and skewered meats being the most common. This was my favorite: chilled poached shrimp, fish, and squid in a tangy spicy sauce with crackers.
Buggy's are the only form of transport within the old walled city of Cartagena. The small cobblestone streets separate the eclectically colored buildings and greenery, where hotels, restaurants and bars have taken up residence.
An art piece outside of St Dom, a high-end retailer in Cartagena, showcasing all-Colombian fashion designers.
Cooking while traveling is one of the benefits of renting an apartment rather than a hotel. Traveling to a local grocery store, I picked up ingredients and made breakfast: Chorizo, patatas bravas, and sunnyside egg.
The old walled city houses many relics of its past, including these innate door handles.
This ice cream shop La Palatterria, housed a huge selection of popsicles with exotic flavors fruits like tamarind, guanabana, maracuya, zapote, and lulo.
This was captured in a plaza directly outside the old walled city. Street peddlers, food stalls, and loud traffic create quite a loud contrast to the relatively quiet streets inside the old walled city.
Inside El Baron, one can order the "Alacran" (or Scorpion) a very strong whiskey-based cocktail served with a cornmeal biscuit.
The streets of Cartagena are alive with music and people every night. The drink of choice: aquarediente or "fire water". The Colombian version is anise flavored.
Castillo San Felipe de Barajas is an old fort that sits atop a large hill.
The fort is very well preserved and contains long tunnels that run throughout the compound.
Playa Blanca (or white beach) is a beautiful beach contained within a National Park an hour outside Cartagena.
Whole fried mojarra fish with mashed fried plantains, pickled veggies and coco rice.
The beach has overnight accommodations where you can stay beachside while facing the Carribean sea.
Stray dogs are very common in Colombia.
Through some miscommunication, our group ended up almost being stuck at Playa Blanca for the night. Our boat left us and all the other boats did not have space. Through the kindness of strangers, we hitched a ride back into the city and came across several small towns along the way.
Riding on the way back to Cartagena, one could view the large industry and factories in the outskirts of the city.