Post by OnlyMark on Mar 2, 2022 8:41:40 GMT 2
The trip to Colombia wasn’t particularly spontaneous but for some reason, maybe because we were and had been quite busy, we didn’t plan as much as we’d normally do for where to go and what to see. We only had a rough idea.
One idea was to visit a couple of places on one of its most famous rivers, the Rio Magdalena.
In previous times this river served as part of the main route from the Caribbean coast to the capital, Bogota.
After the arrivals flights we had a night in the capital and then set off.
Our first view of the river -
We were going here -
On the way into town we stopped off for a break and a bite to eat. Nothing much to the cafe but a nice wall -
Honda is called "the City of Bridges" with more than 40 of them on the rivers Magdalena, Gualí, Guarinó, and Quebrada Seca.
The town, founded in 1539, wasn’t up to much until around 1850 when it became the transport hub, via the river, from the Caribbean coast to the capital. A railway was forced through from Bogota and met the river traffic at the town. Unfortunately, as you can see in the latter photos of the river, the river suffered a lot from silt/sand and had to be continually dredged. This led to its demise as the main way to transfer goods.
Finally in about 1910 they gave up and sought alternative road routes.
We went out for a walk to see a bridge. Some shots on the way -
Can just catch a view of it as we approach -
Pass underneath -
Not much really as to being a major site of interest but nevertheless, worth a walk to -
Up the side and to it -
Coming back down we skirted the river to head back into town to continue wandering -
There were quite a few bridges we found and would pop back and forth across them to get different views -
Of course, there had to be a market. I’m sure in previous times it was all hustle and bustle. Now though, quite a sleepy and much smaller affair. This is the inside from the previous external shots -
Probably the most famous street in the town, Calle de Las Trampas (street of the traps). The story is it could have been built straight, but as it would have been the most direct route for invaders to conquer the town, it was built with no clear line of sight from one end to the other and thus ambushes could be set. Nice story though -
We called past the last train that ran from here to the capital and it was outside the old head offices of the railway company -
Honda has supposed to have a reputation as one of the warmest towns in the country. When we were there it wasn’t, but still warm and humid enough that we slipped back to the hotel for a dip in the pool -
Had another walk round to stretch our legs, find out where we’d go for dinner and take some last shots -
This was actually the landing spot for the boats. Hardly seems big enough, plus the “port” building -
Moving around further -
The river is still used for transport, but not as you would expect for anything much but commuters and some tourists -
We moved on the next day.
One idea was to visit a couple of places on one of its most famous rivers, the Rio Magdalena.
In previous times this river served as part of the main route from the Caribbean coast to the capital, Bogota.
After the arrivals flights we had a night in the capital and then set off.
Our first view of the river -
We were going here -
On the way into town we stopped off for a break and a bite to eat. Nothing much to the cafe but a nice wall -
Honda is called "the City of Bridges" with more than 40 of them on the rivers Magdalena, Gualí, Guarinó, and Quebrada Seca.
The town, founded in 1539, wasn’t up to much until around 1850 when it became the transport hub, via the river, from the Caribbean coast to the capital. A railway was forced through from Bogota and met the river traffic at the town. Unfortunately, as you can see in the latter photos of the river, the river suffered a lot from silt/sand and had to be continually dredged. This led to its demise as the main way to transfer goods.
Finally in about 1910 they gave up and sought alternative road routes.
We went out for a walk to see a bridge. Some shots on the way -
Can just catch a view of it as we approach -
Pass underneath -
Not much really as to being a major site of interest but nevertheless, worth a walk to -
Up the side and to it -
Coming back down we skirted the river to head back into town to continue wandering -
There were quite a few bridges we found and would pop back and forth across them to get different views -
Of course, there had to be a market. I’m sure in previous times it was all hustle and bustle. Now though, quite a sleepy and much smaller affair. This is the inside from the previous external shots -
Probably the most famous street in the town, Calle de Las Trampas (street of the traps). The story is it could have been built straight, but as it would have been the most direct route for invaders to conquer the town, it was built with no clear line of sight from one end to the other and thus ambushes could be set. Nice story though -
We called past the last train that ran from here to the capital and it was outside the old head offices of the railway company -
Honda has supposed to have a reputation as one of the warmest towns in the country. When we were there it wasn’t, but still warm and humid enough that we slipped back to the hotel for a dip in the pool -
Had another walk round to stretch our legs, find out where we’d go for dinner and take some last shots -
This was actually the landing spot for the boats. Hardly seems big enough, plus the “port” building -
Moving around further -
The river is still used for transport, but not as you would expect for anything much but commuters and some tourists -
We moved on the next day.