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I guess I can say I base my opinion on the bright colors...blues, oranges, pinks, reds...compared to Cartagena's faded yellow throughout (generally speaking). El Morro de San Juan gives off an air that you can't quite find in Cartagena...not better or worse, simply different. No "hustlers" either. I don't want to discredit Cartagena though, as I previously mentioned there are many, many reasons to go.
Old San Juan is the better kept of all the surviving Spanish colonial cities in the Caribbean islands and area. The only thing that the city is missing are more main sights, because that’s the only thing every other Spanish colonial city in the Caribbean beats Old San Juan. The most impressive aspect of Old San Juan is the El Morro fortress that still overlooks the old city from the coast. Its so massive that you even see it in the license plates of many cars. In a way it has become a symbol of Puerto Rico. Also Juan Ponce de León is buried at the main cathedral (which dates to the 1700’s.)
Cartagena has a different architecture in many buildings that is simply not seen in Old San Juan. Its all Spanish colonial, but there is something different. Cartagena is not as well kept as Old San Juan, but they have done quite a job in fixing the place. I think they are still working with some buildings.
Santo Domingo looks much more different from all the Spanish colonial cities in the Caribbean. Its also the only city that still conserve most of its 1500’s main buildings, which is something missing in the rest of the continent mostly because other cities became rich and powerful many decades or centuries after Santo Domingo. It also conserves the only Medieval building in America (Torre del Homenaje, all other types in the whole continent are neo). Santo Domingo suffered a lot at the end of the 1500 (for example, Sir Francis Drake invaded the city in 1586 and destroyed one-third of the city until he got his ransom, which included the original bells of the Oldest Cathedral of the New World and then he went to attempt taking over of none other than Cartagena which was on alert after news hit the empire in disbelief that Santo Domingo had fallen, LOL) and through out the 1600’s. The 1700’s was an era of a renaissance in the city since it grew again (thanks to the Spaniards of the Canary Islands that moved to the island in the mid-1600’s all the way to 1795, where a screeching halt was made to that island and then the Haitian invasions basically put an end to that migration en masse.) Despite the growth, it wasn’t the Santo Domingo of the 1500’s and it shows in modern times. Also the Hurricane of San Zenon damaged much of the city, which at that time was overwhelmingly the Colonial Zone. That is why the architecture is more Art Deco the further away one gets to the river. They are doing a make over of the Colonial Zone, which they finished the first wave. The whole district is going to be changed in three waves. The buildings from the 1500’s are mostly going to be white or pastel colors, but every other building is going to be very colorful (which I don’t agree, but whatever). The streets are going to be changed too, including the pedestrian Calle El Conde. Some of the streets near the river were part of the first wave, so in Google Street View you will get an idea what a good chunk of the Colonial Zone will look like in a few years (could take a couple of decades though.)
I am proud to say I have never been to Cartagena.
(not an ocean/beach person in general, and I don't like hanging around places where there's a bunch of expat tourists.)
If I'm going to go to a beach in Colombia it's going to be some off the beaten path place where there aren't any tourists. And I don't have any plans for this because I don't like hot humid beaches.
Put me up in the mountains and that's where I'm happy.
The cuisine and that Raizal culture are one of a kind. There are plenty of foreign tourists, but more of them are Brazilian (I wouldn´t say they´re even the majority, but the largest plurality for sure). They´re generally well-behaved...it´s not so easy to fly to the island from just anywhere, and it´s more expensive than anywhere else, so it draws a high-brow clientele. Locals often rent their houses out in establishments known as posadas...we met Brazilian, Costa Rican, Mexican and some wonderful Bogotano tourists in the one we stayed in.
Who you´d want to stay away from are the package tourists staying at the cheapest hotels on the island...they´re Colombians who treat the locals like crap and don´t know how to comport themselves...just like the "ugly Americans" in Cancún or wherever else, they have made a name for themselves.
For real Raizal flavour and culture you need to head to Old Providence..I love that island. Crab cay is bliss and the view from The Peak stunning.
As for Cartagena to dismiss it just because of the tourists is an attitude I just don't get. If that's your thinking then you'll never experience Venice or the Great Wall of China. You just have to learn to block out the white noice, plenty of authenticity left in Cartagena.
I'll have to give that a try someday. But I like mountains. It would be cool if Colombia had more of an extensive "national forest" type of thing with trails and stuff. That's one thing the U.S. got right compared to the rest of the world - the concept of public lands, BLM lands, national forests, networks of trails, etc.
As for Cartagena to dismiss it just because of the tourists is an attitude I just don't get.
Haha. yeah, I was kinda half joking. But honestly I don't like heat+humidity so that's one of the reasons.
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If that's your thinking then you'll never experience Venice or the Great Wall of China. You just have to learn to block out the white noice, plenty of authenticity left in Cartagena.
I've been to Venice. It was okay. Not bad. Would be cooler without tourists but oh well. Met someone a couple weeks ago who had lived on a ship in the Caribbean and had loved Cartagena.
Well I can tell you right now that's like comparing apples and oranges. Medellin is a mountain city with a coolish climate. Cartagena is a coastal city with a hot muggy climate.
Medellin is the nicer of the two. There is a lot more brick in Medellin than in Cartagena and you don’t get a natural beach. In Cartagena you are sure to sweat, whether you are a sweaty person or not. The beaches right out of your beachfront hotel looks on the ugly side, which is not expected of the Caribbean at all. You can take tours to nice beaches, but I doubt you will take one everyday. The two things that Cartagena has over Medellin is a Spanish colonial center, which I think is one of the best in Colombia. The other thing is if you like better to be near blacks and mulattos, which Cartagena had a lot more beautiful by a wide margin. But if we are comparing these two cities, I say Medellin takes the cake.
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