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    • ▸Easter in Sicily – La pasquetta
    • ▸Stalin’s Museum in Gori
    • ▸Havana – magic and decay
    • ▸Muay-thai family, for a day
    • ▸Cuban billboards
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    • ▸Bazar – Barakholka – Vernisazh
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    • ▸Riding the Yangon’s ring train
    • ▸An unexpected trip to Dhobi Ghat
    • ▸A different way to look at death
    • ▸Cannes under siege
    • ▸Inside the Guru’s kitchen
    • ▸Tibetan refugees
    • ▸The Golden Triangle – A mecca of tribal diversity
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    • ▸“Glastonbury with God”
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      • ▸The show must go on (part 1)
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      • ▸The unexpected Moscow
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      • ▸Vanishing Venice
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      • ▸Tea in the Sahara
      • ▸Medinas – The hearth Moroccan cities
      • ▸Morocco outskirts
      • ▸Djemaa El Fna encounters
      • ▸ Surf and hippies
      • ▸The road to One thousand kasbahs
      • ▸Amazigh – Berber – Free men
    • Georgia
      • ▸Postcards from Georgia
      • ▸The Many Faces of Tbilisi
    • Nepal
      • ▸Kathmandu Valley
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      • ▸Maramures
      • ▸”Tara Motilor”
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      • ▸Bedouin Trails
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      • ▸Where East meets West
      • ▸Street life, Istanbul-style
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      • ▸Finding Mexico City
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      • ▸Transit KL
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      • ▸Grab your kilt and bring your pipes
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      • ▸Stockholm
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      • ▸Off-season Andalusia
    • Thailand
      • ▸Bangkok, Year 2555
      • ▸Life in Pai
      • ▸Thailand
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    • Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania
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      • ▸Copenhagen
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logo

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • THE FAMILY ALBUM
  • ONCE UPON A TIME IN ROMANIA
    • ▸Bucharest, 1989: The days of Revolution
    • ▸I’ve also lived under communism
    • ▸Portraits of transition
    • ▸”Cabernet cu pepsi”
    • ▸Romania, 1990: Beyond the headlines
    • ▸“Mineriada” – My story
    • ▸Memorial of pain
  • WORK IN PROGRESS
    • ▸Barbershop
    • ▸Melancholic Identities
    • ▸Alone, together
    • ▸Faces
    • ▸Fragmentary world
    • ▸Two
    • ▸Buddhist monks
    • ▸About windows and walls
  • STORIES
    • ▸Life and death in Varanasi
    • ▸Trans-Siberian – An experience of becoming
    • ▸Boxing in Havana
    • ▸Medellin – Moving out of Escobar shadow
    • ▸One night at Htee Thein monastery
    • ▸Easter in Sicily – I misteri
    • ▸Easter in Sicily – La pasquetta
    • ▸Stalin’s Museum in Gori
    • ▸Havana – magic and decay
    • ▸Muay-thai family, for a day
    • ▸Cuban billboards
    • ▸Seeking a geisha
    • ▸Bazar – Barakholka – Vernisazh
    • ▸Belfast’s murals: Behind and beyond
    • ▸Riding the Yangon’s ring train
    • ▸An unexpected trip to Dhobi Ghat
    • ▸A different way to look at death
    • ▸Cannes under siege
    • ▸Inside the Guru’s kitchen
    • ▸Tibetan refugees
    • ▸The Golden Triangle – A mecca of tribal diversity
    • ▸Bullfighting – barbaric or art ?
    • ▸Crafts and traditions in Morroco
    • ▸Mediterraneo
    • ▸“Glastonbury with God”
  • TRAVEL
    • Cuba
      • ▸The show must go on (part 1)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 2)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 3)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 4)
    • France
      • ▸Paris
      • ▸Paris. Again
    • Greece
      • ▸Mount Athos
      • ▸Postcards from Santorini
      • ▸Athens
      • ▸Mykonos – The picture-perfect Island
    • Germany
      • ▸Berlin
    • Vietnam
      • ▸Four days in Hanoi
      • ▸Cruising through the misty Halong Bay
    • India
      • ▸Portraits of Kashmir
      • ▸Rishikesh – Spiritual marketplace
      • ▸Life on the Sidewalk
    • Ireland
      • ▸The capital of pubs
      • ▸Ireland in ten days
    • Israel
      • ▸Israel in black & white
    • Colombia
      • ▸Colombia
      • ▸Paisas, coffee and much more
      • ▸Streets of Bogota – From Dystopia to Hope
      • ▸Life along the magical Magdalena River
      • ▸A non-touristy guide to Cartagena’s Caribbean paradise
    • Myanmar
      • ▸Min-ga-la-ba Myanmar
      • ▸Up and down on the hills of Shan State
    • Japan
      • ▸Tokyo
      • ▸Springtime in Kyoto
    • Portugal
      • ▸Life at the edge of Europe
    • Russian Federation
      • ▸The unexpected Moscow
      • ▸White Nights in St. Petersburg
    • Italy
      • ▸Rome
      • ▸Random Sicily
      • ▸“Vedi Napoli e poi mori”
      • ▸Venice
      • ▸Vanishing Venice
    • Morocco
      • ▸Tea in the Sahara
      • ▸Medinas – The hearth Moroccan cities
      • ▸Morocco outskirts
      • ▸Djemaa El Fna encounters
      • ▸ Surf and hippies
      • ▸The road to One thousand kasbahs
      • ▸Amazigh – Berber – Free men
    • Georgia
      • ▸Postcards from Georgia
      • ▸The Many Faces of Tbilisi
    • Nepal
      • ▸Kathmandu Valley
    • Romania
      • ▸Romania to go
      • ▸Maramures
      • ▸”Tara Motilor”
    • Jordan
      • ▸Bedouin Trails
    • Turkey
      • ▸From Turkey with love
      • ▸Ballooning Cappadocia
      • ▸Where East meets West
      • ▸Street life, Istanbul-style
    • Mexico
      • ▸Finding Mexico City
    • Malaysia
      • ▸Transit KL
    • UK
      • ▸London
      • ▸Grab your kilt and bring your pipes
    • Sweden
      • ▸Stockholm
    • Spain
      • ▸Off-season Andalusia
    • Thailand
      • ▸Bangkok, Year 2555
      • ▸Life in Pai
      • ▸Thailand
    • Laos
      • ▸Luang Prabang – The City of ultimate Zen
    • Poland
      • ▸Why I love Poland
    • Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania
      • ▸The Baltic States – Neighbors, but not relatives
      • ▸Patarei – A little slice of Hell
    • Findland
      • ▸A sunny day in Helsinki
    • Denmark
      • ▸Copenhagen
  • SINGLES
  • CONTACT
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A non-touristy guide to Cartagena’s Caribbean paradise

 

Known for its beaches and the romance offered by its colorful streets and aging colonial buildings Cartagena is the place holding the title as Colombia’s most popular city for tourists, a place frequented equally by sun-deprived “Rolos” (people from Bogata) or by the weary cruise-ship tourists taking their first tentative steps into Colombia.

During the narco-heydays, Cartagena was considered the only “safe” spot in Colombia for tourists. It was where foreigners vacationed, cruise ships docked, and rich Colombians built their vacation homes.

Behind this look of glossy magazine, Cartagena floats in a cliché aura: eating a lobster in famous Playa Blanca beach with feet half buried in the sand, swigging rum and listening salsa surrounded by palms and crystal clear water on Baru Isla…

Throughout the years waves of tourists came to see the wonder, to make selfies with the sea and buy slices of papaya from the exotic black women in colorful clothes.

I’m not so impressed for so resounding words. I don’t say yes, I don’t say no and anyhow the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

One thing is for sure: As if time did not pass, Cartagena will always play the same.

Just smile and say “Hola”!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A non-touristy guide to Cartagena’s Caribbean paradise

 

Known for its beaches and the romance offered by its colorful streets and aging colonial buildings Cartagena is the place holding the title as Colombia’s most popular city for tourists, a place frequented equally by sun-deprived “Rolos” (people from Bogata) or by the weary cruise-ship tourists taking their first tentative steps into Colombia.

During the narco-heydays, Cartagena was considered the only “safe” spot in Colombia for tourists. It was where foreigners vacationed, cruise ships docked, and rich Colombians built their vacation homes.

Behind this look of glossy magazine, Cartagena floats in a cliché aura: eating a lobster in famous Playa Blanca beach with feet half buried in the sand, swigging rum and listening salsa surrounded by palms and crystal clear water on Baru Isla…

Throughout the years waves of tourists came to see the wonder, to make selfies with the sea and buy slices of papaya from the exotic black women in colorful clothes.

I’m not so impressed for so resounding words. I don’t say yes, I don’t say no and anyhow the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

One thing is for sure: As if time did not pass, Cartagena will always play the same.

Just smile and say “Hola”!

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