Opening Doors in Cartagena, Colombia

“I feel very adventurous. There are so many doors to be opened, and I’m not afraid to look behind them.” ― Elizabeth Taylor

Two of the best reasons to live in Nicaragua are the low-cost of living and location, location, location. Since we are centrally located to many areas of the world and we don’t spend a lot of money to live comfortably, we can pursue our passions for travel.

We just returned from Cartagena, Colombia. What an amazing cosmopolitan city it is! We booked a cozy apartment in the walled Old City through Airbnb, Martha’s Place. Leaving our little hobbit door in our loft bedroom, we explored the old and the new from one vibrant door to another.

Let’s open some doors together to this marvelous city.

Cartagena’s character can be found in the variety of colorful and whimsical doors throughout the city. Flowering Bougainvillea spills over the archways, and twisting vines climb the walls. I found the doors impossibly irresistible, and I had to photograph every door I passed.
The rising barrio, Getsemaní, contained the best street art I have ever seen. I’ll save the street art for a separate post, yet the doors were intriguing, too.
Wandering through the maze of colonial restorations along the narrow streets, I found myself peeking through the slats to see the underbelly of the old construction.
Most of the doors had ornate and unique door knockers. The majority were iguanas, and there were a few fish, starfish, lion heads, and copper hands. Of course, I had to photograph all the door knockers, too. I hunted throughout the city to find an iguana door knocker to buy…but, I didn’t have any luck.
The balconies overlooking the city streets were spectacular.
The church and cathedral doors were massive.
Now, this door has an unusual door knocker. It looks like Zeus.
I took many photos of doors, so I joined them into a poster. I may have this enlarged and framed.
At night, the city vibrated with music. The sounds of horse-drawn carriages with horse hooves clip-clopping along the narrow streets signaled the end of our day exploring and opening doors. It was time to return to our hobbit door bedroom. Hasta mañana, Cartagena. There will be more doors to open tomorrow.