The Castle of San Felipe de Barajas is one of the main tourist attractions in the city of Cartagena and personally, I class it as a "must-see" as you can't miss out of the experience of the ascent. The castle, which is rather a fortification, is considered as a World Heritage and one of the seven wonders of Colombia because its construction is representative of the identity of Cartagena. The castle is a symbol of the history that the city has lived all these years.
A little history
As you will find Cartagena on a coastline, it was a common target for pirate attacks, mainly by the French and British with the Pointis attack being the most well remembered. For these reasons, the construction of the castle was done above the San Lázaro hill to have a better height and vision of the ships that came to the city. The castle was finished in 1657, therefore, it is nearly have a century old.
The castle was built by Spanish and its construction took three centuries to finish.
Structure
You will find a large green area surrounding the castle. Access is controlled by the guards in the upper part. Despite the fact that the structure is very simple because it's made of almost exclusively stone, the power to observe the really old canons that you will still find exhibited on the surface is a unique experience, as is the gun batteries and the underground tunnels. The means of this construction are impressive considering the year that it was built.
One of the things that I liked the most was the communication system through the tunnels. The guide explained to us that these were constructed so once could go down stairs via a very small roof. This way, the person that found themselves downstairs with their weapon prepared would have been able to have the advantage over the person that was still going down.
Also, it was possible to communicate through the tunnels, since they had a code of special sounds to confirm if the person that they met on the other side was an enemy of the Castle.
From the upper part of the castle you have a brilliant view of the sea and above all, of the wall that protected Cartagena for many years.
The Castle in present day
The main attraction of Cartagena is the castle as only some sections are open to the public due to its constant deterioration that keeps the government making constant changes. Also, it used to be used, although not very frequently, as a meeting centre for some international or governmental events.
How to get there?
The city is not very big, so you can order a taxi and arrive there quickly, and they generally do not charge much.
The best thing to do is to go in a turi bus so you can get to know various tourist attractions, as in the end it works out cheaper to do so.
How much is the entrance fee?
The entrance to the castle was included in the turi bus price, but I understand that if you go separately it costs approximately 17000 COP (around 7 USD), which seems expensive to me since the only thing that you can appreciate once within the castle is the view, the canons and some of the architecture, which being mostly stone is nothing spectacular to look at. If you want to get to know the history of the castle you have to organise a separate service or you can listen to the guides that are there and recover some of the information.
Recommendations
Wear a lot of sun cream and a hat or sun hat, since the sun is strong there and there are not many shaded places because the trip is mainly outside.
Take a good camera, since you can appreciate the sea and part of the city of Cartagena.
