Plaza de la Aduana - Customs, Columbus and City Hall

Photo: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

A stop on Cartagena Walled City Walk, a free self-guided tour.

This wide square is the largest and one of the oldest in the old town, and it was the business end of colonial Cartagena. The name means Customs Plaza. Goods arriving by sea were taxed here, and the long building on one side, the old royal customs house, is now Cartagena's city hall. The city's founder, Pedro de Heredia, also had his home on this square.

When the treasure fleets were in port, this was a busy place. Silver from the mines of the Andes gathered in Cartagena before crossing the Atlantic, and Spanish officials kept a close eye on every crate that moved through the city.

In the center stands a statue of Christopher Columbus, unveiled in 1894 for the anniversary of his first voyage. Columbus never set foot in Cartagena; the statue says more about how the 1890s saw history than about the city itself.

Take a moment in the shade of the arcades and notice the balconies above you - Cartagena's houses are famous for them.

Getting here: From the Heredia statue, walk south-west out of Plaza de los Coches for about 2 minutes into the larger plaza.

Did you know?: Columbus died in 1506, more than 25 years before Cartagena was founded.

Photo op: Frame the Columbus statue with the long arcaded front of city hall behind it.

More on Wikipedia: Spanish treasure fleet · Christopher Columbus · Pedro de Heredia

Plaza de la Aduana - Customs, Columbus and City Hall

Stops on this tour