Not arriving into Cartagena until 10am we had a leisurely morning and head off to explore around 11am. We had thought we would do the hop on hop off bus which I had looked at the website for yesterday, they had a port loop on cruise days for $30USD which was supposed to be a 2 day ticket. Today however the ticket was $39USD & was only for 1 day. My bargain radar was not happy so we decided to continue to the terminal, which had a tropical garden & boardwalks through it with a a variety of exotic birds like flamingos & parrots then of course you had to walk through the shop to get out. We had thought we would just get a taxi to town but at the terminal exit there was also staff spruiking a trolley bus tour which was only $20USD for a 4 hour tour, including stops at the main sights & a 1 hour walking tour through the old town. There were only 16 on board and most were in the younger section of the cruise age spectrum so that was just an added bonus. Off we trolleyed towards the centre of town, then up a steep hill winding through the poorer area of town to La Popa Monastery. We didn't pay to go into the monastery so didn't get the whole view but behind the rows of taxis & lean to souvenir shops was a fabulous view down over the fortress, new & old town backed by the shimmering blue water. A 20min stop & then we were on our way for another 20min stop at the San Filipe Fortress which helped protect the city from pirates & buccaneers, then onto the old town with a 30min shopping stop at 'the dungeons' a row of old prisons now shops with the same old tacky overpriced souvenirs. We only bought bottles of water as it was 90% humidity & in the 30's so we had already gone through a few litres. The walking tour was next & the old town was very pretty and in a lot of ways very similar to Havana but with cute little wooden balconies which had flowers and vines cascading over the sides. We passed through a few squares which each had adjoining churches then were ushered into an emerald store where I won the 'raffle' of a key ring with little pieces of emerald in it. Back on the trolley bus we circled through Bocagrande, the newer part of town where the beach is, then back to the ship. It was a great introduction tour to Cartagena & now we had the afternoon to have a late lunch, then an ice coffee & carrot cake followed by a relax/nap as I felt that the heat had got to me a bit. An evening drink in the sky lounge at the front of the ship before dinner in the dining room. Not many of the desserts have really grabbed me this cruise (which is good for my waistline) so tonight I just had a baileys on ice nightcap.