Four faces
In the centre of Cartagena's old town stands the Torre del Reloj, or clock tower.
Its bright yellow walls can be seen shooting up towards the city's blue sky from all directions.
When it was constructed in 1601, there was only one clock, but a revamp in 1888 gave the tower three additional clock faces, so you could see the time from wherever you were in the city.
The only problem was that the authorities couldn't get the clock times in sync, which is why today locals will tell a liar 'you have more faces than the clock tower'.
Cartagena itself is not unlike the clock tower, it wears a number of different faces at the same time. It's definitely not a city you're going to be able to wrap your head around in a single day. Here's my take on the four faces of Cartagena:
Colonial theme park
During their bloodthirsty quest for gold in the Americas, the Spaniards discovered Cartagena in 1533. Murdering the indigenous population, or sending them fleeing into the hills of the Sierra Nevada, they quickly set up shop. The city soon became the gateway to South America and as such, incredibly wealthy.
Today, now a former Spanish colony, Cartagena's beautiful old town is dripping in colonial charm that's attracting Colombian and international tourists in their thousands (since violence in the city began to subside five years ago).
The narrow streets are packed with backpackers, families, coffee shops, bars, upmarket designer stores and gelato stands. Added into the mix are locals selling mangos, hats, sunglasses, and tours - from visiting local islands to somewhat dubious 'party buses'.
It's a heady mix and in the melee it's almost impossible to imagine the city how it once was.
Heroic city
People from Cartagena love to tell you that the city's nickname is, l'heroica. The nickname was given to them by none other than Simon Bolivar, the great military hero who led Colombia to its liberation from the Spanish.
Word has it that when Bolivar came to liberate Cartagena, the city had almost been crushed under a punishing year-long siege by the Spanish, he was so impressed by the people's fortitude, he named it the heroic city.
When you consider the number of times Cartagena has been attacked and plundered by rival world powers, it's a name that fits. Even our own Sir Francis Drake is known as a pirate around these parts.
Slavers' bay
There's no getting away from the fact that this beautiful city was built using the labour of enslaved Africans. People from Senegal and Angola were ripped from their villages, clamped in irons, forced on board a Spanish slaving ship and sailed across the Atlantic on a journey where 30% of them would die.
It's estimated more than 1 millions Africans were brought to Cartagena in this way.
The Spanish forced them to build Cartagena's city walls to keep the British out. No doubt elsewhere in the world, the British were also enslaving African people and stealing their labour to keep the Spanish out.
The legacy of this brutality can be seen in the faces of the Colombian people. Once slavery was abolished in 1851, Africans began to establish themselves in the poor Cartagena neighbourhoods and in freetowns outside the city.
Today, half of Colombia's population is 'mestizo' (white and Amerindian heritage), 37% are white (Spanish descendants) 10% are black and 4% are Indigeous people.
All three tour guides I've had have told me with pride about their mixed heritage.
Hipster's paradise
And what of Cartagena's the future? Well, the answer could lie in the numerous hip bars and restaurants the city has to offer - Cartagena is very much open for business.
The old city, particularly the colourful Getsemani district are an instagrammer's paradise and around every corner you can find someone looking for the perfect shot.
Alongside the food and the photos, the city has much to offer culture vultures - public art, a great collection at the Museo de Arte Moderno and a number of museums.
Cartagena is vigorously shaking off its past, but whether or not it'll lose some of its magic in the process remains to be seen.
