Medellin

I am on my way from Cartagena to Medellin through the mountains and it would take two days. This is the bridge across the river with a tug pushing empty barges underneath the bridge.

 

 It had been raining fr weeks and eleven out of the 33 provinces in Colombia had declared a state of emergency. A flooded road.

 But more of a concern to farmers were the flooded fields.

 And flooded homes and businesses.

And the flood waters were rushing through local fields removing topsoil and potentially drowning plants.

 A flooded road.

 Soon we were in Medellin but some places were fun of rubbish but generally the city is clean and functions well.

I went to see the Castle Museum, actually a wealthy local family residence whose patriarch decided to build a house in the style of a castle at the turn of the twentieth century.

 With beautiful gardens to accompany the home.

 Them I went to see the Arvi National Park which is accessed by a gondola from the main  metro.

 The cable car reaches up and over the side of the valley in which the city lies and then the cable car takes another fifteen minutes to reach the centre of the park.

It was a bit of a disappointment as I wanted to have a walk in the forest come jungle but the authorities wanted to keep people at the visitors centre or on the road and one of the many picnic centres that they had built rather than to experience the actual forest.

The next day was a walk around the old city, I saw the government buildings which were just slabs of concrete and then the old railway station, long since not a railway station.

 A view of the square where there are tall towers of lights...but much better at night.

 Then a few views of the city.

A beautiful arte nouveau cinema although in need of some attention.

 The plaza of lights.

An interesting building with a horrid brick wall backdrop.

One of the few surviving market buildings not far from the old railway station.