Day 7 -- Naval museum, gelato, and Las Bovedas

This morning began with a short walk to the Plaza north of the Santuario San Pedro Claver (near the portion of the city wall called Baluarte de San Francisco) to visit the Naval Museum. This plaza is really beautiful (one of my favorites within the walled city) with many sculptures and, more interesting, a little fountain replica. It doesn’t have any water but it is a replica of one that provided water in the 17th century. It reminded me of the fountain/sink in the movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets!

Since Cartagena was a major port in the past, the Naval Museum provided a lot of information about this city’s major battles and other aspects pertaining to naval military history. I especially liked the model ships and replicas of the forts and bastions built to defend Cartagena from invaders. I also really liked the modern story of Chicote, a little yellow lab/cocker spaniel that lived on a naval training ship (the Gloria) for more than 13 years in the 1980’s. Chicote is in the Guinness book of World Records as the dog who has visited the most ports (>100) and spent the most time at sea! The museum was surprisingly large with a lot to see so we ended up spending most of our morning there.

After our visit to the Naval Museum, Carlos and I walked back to the area near our hotel to visit a little gelato store called Brianzola. I have never really had gelato before so I thought I would give it a try -- it was even better than ice cream! I had pistachio gelato that was very rich and creamy and good because it didn’t have a lot of pistachios in it (I love nut flavors, but not the nuts themselves...yes, I am a little strange). This was the best/only gelato in the city and we returned almost every day for a treat thereafter -- I highly recommend it!

Our afternoon was spent meandering around the city and visiting an area in the northern portion of the walled city called Las Bóvedas: former dungeons that have been converted into souvenir shops. Most of the shops offer the same, boring old junk, but a couple had some nice, quality souvenirs.

For dinner, Carlos and I visited a Chinese restaurant near Brianzola: Dragón de la Marina. The food was really tasty and plentiful; we were able to bring the leftovers back to the hotel for a snack later. Tomorrow is our day trip to the Islas del Rosario!