More Cartagena de Indias

Los Zapatos Viejos Monument to the Cartagena poet Luís Carlos López
The Castillo San Felipe de Barajas is in the background

Castillo San Felipe de Barajas

This was Spain's largest and most impregnable fortress in the New World. Never conquered, it repelled many attacks, including a 1741 attack by the British admiral Edward Vernon. Vernon's attack was massive, with 186 ships and 23,000 men, including American colonial troops -- among them George Washington's older half-brother, who later named his Virginia plantation after Vernon. When George Washington inherited Mount Vernon, he retained the name.

Eileen and our guide, Braulio, leaving Castillo San Felipe
Bocagrande can be seen in the distance

The cloister of El Convento de Santa Clara, now a beautiful hotel

The cloister of La Candalaria de la Popa Convent

The Mark & Eileen Home Page