Getsemaní

Getsemaní sits just outside the walled city, across the old channel from the Torre del Reloj, and for many visitors it ends up being their favourite part of Cartagena. In colonial times it was a separate island east of the city, settled by artisans, merchants, Spanish and Creole families, converted indigenous people and enslaved Africans. Its own walls were added from 1631, when Francisco de Murga began fortifying this side of the city, according to Colombia's tourism board.

The neighbourhood holds a central place in Colombian history. In 1811 the artisans and militias of Getsemaní, led by the Cuban-born Pedro Romero, pressed for full independence from Spain. On 11 November that year Romero's group met at his house on Calle Larga, seized the cannon at the Media Luna gate and turned the guns away from the sea and towards the neighbourhood; that afternoon Cartagena declared itself independent. A bell cast by Romero is now in the Museo Histórico in the Palacio de la Inquisición.

The heart of the barrio is the Plaza de la Trinidad, in front of the Church of the Santísima Trinidad, which gives the square its name. El País describes it as a popular meeting point for locals and visitors, and it is a good place to start or end a walk. Over the past two decades residents have revived the area through art, food and dance, and the walls are covered with murals; Colombia's tourism board specifically recommends a graffiti tour of the neighbourhood. Forbes has listed it among the coolest neighbourhoods in the world.

Getsemaní is also where much of Cartagena's eating and drinking happens. Restaurants such as Celele, La Cocina de Pepina and Salón Tropical are here, and Café Havana, on the corner of Calle de la Media Luna and Calle del Guerrero, has been a salsa institution since 2006. Plenty of hostels and small hotels, including Viajero's Getsemaní hostel on Calle Larga, make it a popular base for younger and budget travellers.

You can explore on your own for free; allow two or three hours to walk the streets slowly, and come back in the evening for the bars and live music. Cartagena averages around 27°C all year, so the late afternoon is the most comfortable time to walk. The barrio is a few minutes on foot from the Torre del Reloj, and Escuela Taller Cartagena de Indias, which manages the city's fortifications, has its office here on Calle del Guerrero.