Cartagena, Colombia - A Beguiling City

Enchanting & mysterious destination that romances its way into one's soul.

When you arrive to Cartagena, Colombia, it is a beautiful place like that of many Latin American cities. The sun, like the people, is warm & inviting, the colorful plazas with shops & cafes are teeming with life, and the narrow streets are full of push-carts selling local delicacies.

The neighborhoods of El Centro & Getsemani are dotted with beautifully restored colonial homes and colorful buildings that are a wonder to behold! The best way to spend your time is getting lost in these old city streets: stopping to sip un cafe, some of the best in the world, munching on an arepa con huevo from a street stall or getting to know the rich history of Cartagena from the ubiquitous Palenqueras.

A charming and layered city, Cartagena has captured many hearts and none more famous than the author Gabriel García Márquez. He described being born again as he saw La Luz Malva on the first evening he arrived to Cartagena, penniless and sleeping on park benches. But it was in those streets that he created the literary concept of Magical Realism and the stories of Florentino & Fermentina (Love in the Time of Cholera) and Sierva Maria (Of Love & Other Demons).

Beguiling adjective: charming or enchanting, often in a deceptive way

70 years later you can can still feel the beguiling nature of this city come to life as the same lavender evening light that inspired Márquez begins to set. Gaslit colonial homes on the narrow streets are the backdrop for sounds of soul-stirring salsa, horses on cobblestone and lovers' whispers that echo eerily together. The colliding of Cartagena’s enchantment & mysteriousness is what separates this destination from others and is why it romances its way into one's soul.

Saludos,
Felicia
Nomad Co-founder