Castillo San Felipe de Barajas

Work began on the hill of San Lazaro in 1639, was extended up to 1657 and continued through the eighteenth century until the fort became a stack of batteries arranged so that each one covered the others. Ramps rather than steps run between the levels, because guns and powder had to be moved up them, and a network of narrow galleries and mine tunnels was cut inside the rock, some of it walkable today. It is part of the inscribed group of Cartagena's port, fortresses and monuments. The summit gives the clearest single view of the city: the walled town, the bay, and the tower blocks of Bocagrande lined up behind it.

History

The fortress on the hill of San Lázaro, first called the Castillo de San Lázaro and named after Philip IV of Spain, was built in 1639 by enslaved Africans under Spanish supervision and expanded up to 1657; it was triangular, with eight batteries and a garrison of 200 soldiers and four gunners. In the 1697 raid on Cartagena the French privateer Baron de Pointis took it; José de Herrera y Sotomayor repaired it in 1739, and in 1741 the Spanish admiral Blas de Lezo repelled the British admiral Edward Vernon's attack during the War of Jenkins' Ear. Antonio de Arévalo enlarged it again in 1763, and in the wars of independence Cartagena fell to the royalist expedition of Pablo Morillo in December 1815 (Wikipedia, Castillo San Felipe de Barajas).

Highlights

• The tunnel galleries - narrow lit passages cut through the rock, low in places.
• The tiered batteries - ramps and gun platforms built to cover one another.
• The summit view - the walled city, the bay and the Bocagrande towers in one line.
• The sloped glacis - the bare approach that made the hill hard to climb under fire.

When to go

Open daily from the morning. Go at opening or in the last two hours before closing, because there is almost no shade and the middle of the day on bare stone is punishing. December to April is drier. Cruise ship days push large groups through mid-morning, and the entrance queue is worst then. An hour and a half is usually enough.

Good to know

It is a hot, bare, uphill walk with few benches and no shade to speak of. The tunnels are narrow and low, and anyone uneasy in confined spaces should skip them. Vendors and self-appointed guides work the entrance hard and persistently. The foreign ticket price has risen sharply. Inside, interpretation is thin unless you take the audio guide.

Nearby

The Convento de la Popa sits on the higher hill behind; the walled city is 20 minutes on foot.

Key facts