Day 6 -- Modern Art Museum, Santuario San Pedro Claver, Caribe Plaza

After another tasty breakfast at the hotel, Carlos and I walked to the Plaza de la Aduana and then to Plaza San Pedro Calver to visit the modern art museum: Museo de Arte Moderno de Cartagena. Although this museum was a little small, it was a well put-together museum with some nice pieces. Admission was only ~$2US so this visit was a good deal. The museum consisted of two floors (with the majority of the artwork located on the first floor) and two buildings -- one of which was built in the 17th century and served as Cartagena’s customs house. In the back of the gallery was a door that led out to a portion of the city walls -- it was a really nice location! We saw many nice paintings and sculptures by famous Latin American artists (e.g. Alejandro Obregon and Enrique Grau); one of my favorite pieces was a little fish sculpture made by Grau and located above the desk at the museum’s entrance.

Once we were finished exploring the art museum, Carlos and I walked across the plaza to visit the Santuario San Pedro Claver. Known as the “Slave of the slaves,” Pedro Claver spent his life caring for and defending the African slaves that came to the Americas via Cartagena -- and now he is a saint. The Santuario was one of the most beautiful buildings in El Centro and was comprised of a huge church (under renovation at the time we visited) connected to the cloisters and courtyard of the Santuario. I liked walking in the courtyard here -- there were mysteriously two macaws in a cage here and they were fun to talk to. The Santuario also contained a museum of religious artifacts and assorted items. (That's me in a stairwell leading down to the first level of the Santuario).

We returned to Caribe Plaza to eat lunch and of course to have more Yogen Früz yoghurt! This time, I had agraz berries smooshed into vanilla yoghurt. The agraz berries reminded me of cranberries and lingonberries -- really tart and delicious!

Later in the afternoon, Carlos and I walked from the walled city to the Monumento de los Pegasos (Pegasus Monument) and from there to the Muelle Turistico -- the only place to buy tickets for boat tours of the Islas del Rosario. We chose to take a large ship, which is a slower, but safer, ride than those offered in small boats. For dinner, we had chicken sandwiches (made from our grocery leftovers) and finished that off with almond ice cream in a waffle cone at -- where else -- Crepes & Waffles! After dessert, we walked all over the south walls to see everything lit up at night. During our wanderings we saw another museum that we hadn’t yet visited (the Naval Museum) -- we will go there tomorrow!