smith6 Posted December 8, 2011 #1 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Is the old part of Columbia interesting? I hear it is alot like San Juan but on a bigger scale and is it expensive for shopping etc. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loonbeam Posted December 9, 2011 #2 Share Posted December 9, 2011 Personally I don't see it. Here's what I just posted on a similar thread, other than emeralds and some coffee we didn't do a lot of shopping, but it seemed reasonable. Depends on what you like. I found things like the LaPopa Monnastery and old fort interesting, and the old city was very walkable. I'd recommend a private tour instead of a ship tour, the buses really were herded like sheep in some of the locations. Here's a link to some photos, Cartagena starts with the one where Claudia, our guide, is pointing.. http://loonbeam.smugmug.com/Travel/2...506129_CmTN6Fg And here's some notes from our excursions on our recent cruise, including Cartagena: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1508966 Is the old part of Columbia interesting? I hear it is alot like San Juan but on a bigger scale and is it expensive for shopping etc. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GradUT Posted December 10, 2011 #3 Share Posted December 10, 2011 The Old Town of Cartegena is very interesting, but you won't appreciate what you are looking at unless you have a tour guide. Our tour guide showed us things that we would never have noticed and took us into buildings that we would not have thought to enter on our own. He gave us a good history of the area and made our visit to the Old Town memorable. I also recommend a private guide over the huge tour groups from the cruise line. I can't help with the shopping since we didn't do any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjdnv Posted December 11, 2011 #4 Share Posted December 11, 2011 The Old Town of Cartegena is very interesting, but you won't appreciate what you are looking at unless you have a tour guide. Our tour guide showed us things that we would never have noticed and took us into buildings that we would not have thought to enter on our own. He gave us a good history of the area and made our visit to the Old Town memorable. I also recommend a private guide over the huge tour groups from the cruise line. I can't help with the shopping since we didn't do any. Can you tell me the name of our guide? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GradUT Posted December 12, 2011 #5 Share Posted December 12, 2011 Our guide was Jacinto Jimenez (J.J.) Taborda and we contacted him through his email address: jacinto-200@hotmail.com J.J. was easy to contact and he was waiting for us when our cruise ship docked. I told J.J. when we booked a tour with him exactly what we wanted to see and do and he made sure that we did it all. Because we were a small group (only the 3 of us), J.J. was able to take us to some places in the Fort and the Cathedral that large groups would not have been able to go. We really liked that. Also, J.J. knew that we were not interested in shopping, so he didn't try to steer us into any stores. I would highly recommend J.J. to any visitor to Cartegena. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjdnv Posted December 12, 2011 #6 Share Posted December 12, 2011 Our guide was Jacinto Jimenez (J.J.) Taborda and we contacted him through his email address: jacinto-200@hotmail.com J.J. was easy to contact and he was waiting for us when our cruise ship docked. I told J.J. when we booked a tour with him exactly what we wanted to see and do and he made sure that we did it all. Because we were a small group (only the 3 of us), J.J. was able to take us to some places in the Fort and the Cathedral that large groups would not have been able to go. We really liked that. Also, J.J. knew that we were not interested in shopping, so he didn't try to steer us into any stores. I would highly recommend J.J. to any visitor to Cartegena. Thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiffymom Posted November 12, 2012 #7 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Just starting my research. Is old city far from the port? Sorry if this seems silly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOLDENBONNY Posted November 13, 2012 #8 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Personally I don't see it. Here's what I just posted on a similar thread, other than emeralds and some coffee we didn't do a lot of shopping, but it seemed reasonable. Depends on what you like. I found things like the LaPopa Monnastery and old fort interesting, and the old city was very walkable. I'd recommend a private tour instead of a ship tour, the buses really were herded like sheep in some of the locations. Here's a link to some photos, Cartagena starts with the one where Claudia, our guide, is pointing.. http://loonbeam.smugmug.com/Travel/2...506129_CmTN6Fg And here's some notes from our excursions on our recent cruise, including Cartagena: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1508966 OMG Love this picture. Where is this? I would love to hold him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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