Castillo de San Felipe

Well it's a bittersweet day. Saturday was my last day in Cartagena before flying back south, so I spent the morning touring the historic San Felipe Castle just outside of the historic city center. Because Cartagena is so hot, you can really only enjoy it early in the morning or late in the afternoon, so I got there right at 8:00 am when it opened.

According to most historians, the castillo is the greatest fortress ever built by the Spaniards in any of their colonies. According to Wikipedia, the original fort was commissioned in 1630 and was quite small. Construction began in 1657 on top of the 40 meter high San Lázaro hill. In 1762, an extensive enlargement was undertaken, which resulted in the entire hill being covered over with this powerful bastion. It was truly impregnable and was never taken, despite numerous attempts to storm it.