Why NOBODY visits Colombia’s oldest city! (24 hours in Santa Marta)
We are currently standing on the Caribbean coast of Colombia after a bus from the Highland mountains to Palomino Palomino is a hippie town and it sits in the Coast with not that much infrastructure has
Like dirt roads nothing’s really paved there and a lot of shacks that you’d go and have dinner in we basically spent the day walking around exploring all of the restaurants walking along the beach with a bunch of dogs for way too long until we could see the Sierra Nevada mountains which was
So bizarre because we were standing sweating on a beach and if you just turned looked past all of the densely green forests there was a mountain covered in snow it was pretty weird it’s so bizarre seeing snow and sweating that much the reason we went to Palomino is because
It’s right next to Teyrona National Park which is the park that you need to go to when you’re in Colombia but we made one of our probably biggest travel blunders we’ve ever made it’s a Tayrona national park closes three times a year just for environmental sustainability to give the plants
And the wildlife a break from human activity which is amazing love that what I don’t love is that it’s in January in October and in June yeah the very day we plan to go there is the first day
Of its closure so we couldn’t wait around either such a bummer because it’s something I was looking forward to a lot it looks like an amazing place to visit but instead we made some quick decisions and today we are spending the day in Colombia’s oldest city Santa Marta even though Santa Marta
Is the oldest town in all of Colombia when you read on blogs about what there is to do here three of the top 10 things to actually leave the city could be because we’re surrounded by pretty amazing things like the Tayrona national Park we talked about a city called Minka that just
Looks so beautiful and also this is the jumping off point for the lost city Trek at least one of those top 10 things to do is to come down to this part here this is the Malecon which I believe
Translates pier in Spanish but it’s effectively an Esplanade that goes all the way along the coast nice to look at the sea without having to get Sandy like we did in Palomino it’s giving Waikiki Hawaii meets nha trang Vietnam I agree any City on the beach is giving Waikiki Hawaii
This is one of those beaches that dots along the malecon it’s really really wide but the sand is not white and it’s a little bit dirty seems like they’ve tried to clean it up though it’s very much
Like a resort town like the resorts are really nice they sit on the beach but you’d probably just stay in your Resort pool one really cool thing about Colombia is in the morning there’s all these coffee vendors walking around with their little carts and they have so many different pots
On board I think there’s coffee maybe tea or just hot water and hot chocolate we went for a coffee each this morning which cost 3,000 pesos which is about a dollar for two tiny little coffees they are burning hot which sucks because the temperatures also really really hot so I am
Sweating so much and we can’t even get relief by jumping in the ocean because neither of us have bathers which is like a side goal of today we want to go to some market area in hopes that they sell
Bathers because the next town we’re going to we are definitely going to want to hop in the water really really good quite sweet which makes it your own I just wish he’s somehow sold iced coffees this statue is of Rodrigo de bastidas who was the founder of Santa Marta he’s a conquistador from
Spain who came here with a bunch of guys and was known as the noble conquistor because he wanted to keep relations with the locals good because he wanted to live here but he ended up trading heaps
With the locals getting heaps of gold which he wouldn’t share with any of his guys and he forbid his guys from beating up locals and taking their gold so they stabbed him they literally stabbed
Him in his sleep and he died it’s a bit of a rough ending but he also had a bunch of slaves so I don’t know how Noble he really was cool statue though there’s been like a handful of
Cities since we’ve been traveling around the world that have this sort of thing that like 9 of the top things to do are leaving the city but if you are sticking around in Santa Marta one
Of the main things you can do is come and hang in park de Bolivar which is named after Simon Bolivar they have a statue of him here as well and that is because he actually died in Santa Marta and I
Think his house is here somewhere that you can go visit so we’re sitting in the park super exciting it’s actually really cool in here because there’s so many trees covering there are so many benches and what’s crazy is that later in the afternoon it gets packed like these benches will be full
There will be people sitting on the sidewalk just because it’s so much cooler in here than out in the sun this sort of connects the beach over there to the market that we’re trying to make
Our way to now but we did just need a break from the heat so it’s been nice chilling out in here there’s also heaps that animals like what looks like a woodpecker I’ve never seen that before
We have decided it’s far too hot so we’ve been walking around Carrera 3 which is sort of like the pedestriany really cool restaurants Cafe Street in Santa Marta and we’ve stopped to hopefully get
An iced coffee or like a cold juice or just some cold water thrown on my face I really thought we would be getting iced coffees here because that’s what we usually get but that coffee on the beach kind of satisfied me and they have slushies so I’m getting a cherry slushie and Emily’s
Getting a strawberry slushie and also one cold water because we need that more than anything and then we’ll go to the market and get bathers it’s as if they’ve gotten a bunch of frozen strawberries and Blended them together it’s delicious and very very cold
This Market we’re going to is actually where we got dropped off when we came to Santa Marta from Palomino its absolutely hectic we had all our bags and we were not ready for it then but we
Knew we were going to come back I know they sell fruit and veg and they should have a few clothes so hopefully we can find some bathers this is some options for you do you like the pineapples
Thank you okay that was so easy I think you’re supposed to haggle a little bit here but 20,000 peso like that’s less than ten dollars so happy with that let’s try and find you some base we’re in a clothing store now which I thought would be more promising but I’m
Finding it difficult to know where the bikinis would be like if this was a store in Australia I think I’d be able to find it quite quickly but for some reason here I’m like overwhelmed with this music playing I have no idea there’s women’s men’s kids stuff all mixed together
No luck I think maybe I’m a bit more conservative when it comes to my bikini bottoms the hunt continues okay in my size in my favorite color and they were on sale that took a bit longer than expected so it’s time to get something to eat
Thankfully here they’ve got something called menu of the day or menu Del Dia which we’re seeing everywhere and we haven’t tried yet we did see a place where we were last night that sold it that looked quite nice so we’re going there oh really nice we are on like one of the
Main squares here and the menu of the day is only 20,000 pesos which is under ten dollars the things that we’re seeing everywhere around here isn’t originally a Spanish thing it was actually enforced in law in Spain back in the day the dictator who probably because he’s a
Dictator wasn’t a very nice guy he did one cool thing which was make sure that workers of the country were able to get a fair meal at a fair price so you normally get a choice of meat
A soup an Arepa in some cases a juice and some rice and sometimes a plantain so we can’t read Spanish so we don’t really know what we’re getting on this one all we know is that we
Think it’s going to be fish rather than a choice of meat I guess because it’s a Port City Fish makes sense it’s like quite fresh our first course is soup just judging from the color it looks like some sort of pumpkin soup which sounds delicious even though it’s really hot
Is that almost like chili Curry sort of flavors yum first course is down it was amazing kind of already I can see it getting worth it like worth the money it was delicious oh I’ve never had plantains in chip form like this before
Yeah now we have our main dish which is like a fried almost battered looking fish some rice plantain chips and a salad meal of the day is the way to go I don’t know what that flavor is but it’s yummy it’s almost like coconutty
I never order fish but every time I have it I’m pleased that I’ve had it because I know that it’s really good for me and it always tastes better than I think it’s gonna taste delicious couldn’t even finish it meal of the day wow it’s a great option the day
Is not over there’s one more thing we need to see it involves services and the Sun the Escalade is so much more lively at sunset time there’s people dancing working out swimming it’s not a bad way to end 24 hours in Santa Marta I know people probably don’t
Normally stop over here from what we found blog posts will tell you to go somewhere else I have quite enjoyed our day next up Cartagena
We had dreams of exploring Tayrona National Park but we happened to plan our trip at the worst possible time! The park was closed so instead we decided to spend 24 hours in Santa Marta!
Filmed 03/06/2023 | Santa Marta, Colombia
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24 hours in Santa Marta Colombia
00:00 – Why we’re in Santa Marta
01:25 – Santa Marta Malecon (Esplanade)
02:15 – Beaches in Santa Marta + Morning Coffee
03:31 – The founder of Santa Marta (Rodrigo de Bastidas)
04:09 – Bolivar park (Parque Bolivar)
05:09 – Santa Marta streets & Drink break
06:16 – Mercado Público de Santa Marta
07:39 – Menu Del Dia at Bijao
09:54 – Cevezas and the sun
#santamarta #colombia #TravelVlog
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27 Comments
First love your videos keep up the amazing work❤
We want YOUR travel reccommendations for Colombia or anywhere else in the world! – add them to our global rec index here:
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okay, bummed we missed Tayrona National Park (good reason to come back to Colombia!?)
but had an amazing time in Santa Marta AND officially obsessed with Menu Del Dia!!
Nice video! Hope you guys can explore more of Colombia, already a fan!
Hello! Im related to you. In the Daly Family 😊🍃
Hi Jordan and Emily, what a bummer that you were not able to visit Tayrona National Park. What are the odds that they would start their closed time just the day you were planning to go. Looks like you had a good day exploring and the Fish Dinner looked amazing. Funny to see Macaw Birds out in the wild. Great way to end the video with that colorful Macaw cleaning it's beak on the wall. Looks like it didn't mind coming so close to your camera. Nice footage of the stray dogs of the area as well.
Nice job converting to USD. Keep it up 😉
hey guys, we just came across your channel and really enjoy watching your vlogs. you look such a positive and lovely couple🙌🏽
thanks for sharing your adventures 🙏🏽
greetings from The Dolomites, from your new subs Natalia&Michal 🤍
Hi guys, nice video. I live in Santa Marta part of the year and wanted your subscribers to know there are numerous great beaches in and around Santa Marta. The beach featured does have a very nice boardwalk but is really the main shipping port not so much the beach experience other beaches offer. If you are fortunate enough to return please do the hike to The Lost City of Colombia, you won't be disappointed.
Where are you staying? And was it a good place?
One day you'll need to do a compilation of all the times Emily randomly gets distracted. I can relate. Santa Maria looks like a really cute town and I think I'd audibly gasp if I saw a macaw in real life. What beautiful birds.
Looks like you had a fun day even though you couldn’t go to the national park. I love how there’s big beautiful parks in the middle of the city. Cute parrot and puppy dogs, especially the one that looks like Sawyer. Nice togs Jordan. Miss you both, love you, mum.xx ❤️
Nice vid! Fun little restaurants!
Santa Marta receives hundreds of thousands of visitors every year – the title of this video is nonsense
I wish you guys had heard of Taganga while you were there. This little fishing village about a 15 min bus ride from the center offers a nice break from the intensity of the area(s) you did visit. Great beaches and tasty eats!
Wow what impressive camera quality and footage keep it up
"I don't know what that flavor is, but it's almost coconutty"
It ought to be, it's coconut rice…
Como personas asi no aprenden Español? Tipicamente ingleses.
Whats the name of the last restaurant?
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Most of the tourist in Santa Marta go to El rodadero .
mostly you complained about being hot in a beach town near the equator. Stop whining like a child. Men hate whining.
You gave the impression that there is not much to do in Santa Marta. Santa Marta is a very popular tourist city especially among Colombians. Most stay in Rododero. It has a rich history, some of which you pointed out. As you said Simon Bolivar died there and it was his final residence. He was one the most historic figures in all of South America. Further Santa Marta is one of the oldest cities in South America and the Cathedral there is one of the oldest churches although the building has been rebuilt. You were very close to it where you were. As another mentioned there are many beaches around Santa Marta if you got out of town a little. If you wanted to see some wildlife there are places to go also even though Tayrona was closed. There is much more too. Good luck in your travels.
10:00 kids said "una monedita al agua" which means "throw a coin to the water" its a strange practice where they ask tourists for coins to be trhown to the ocean so they can dive in and get the coins (they keep the money of course) – then in 10:04 they said "tira el money al agua" lol
The way to spend time in Santa Marta is to be in Rodadero and to use it as a hub. From there you have a downtown area with 100 restaurants from very inexpensive to moderately priced. You have a quiet section of beach and are within 7-8 minutes of nicer beaches (Cabo Tortuga, Pozos Colorado, Bello Horizonte). From Rodadero, you can also go on day tours of Playa Cristal, Playa Blanca, and Bahia Concha. You stay in Santa Marta to use it as a hub to Tayrona, Minca, Palomino, and Ciudad Perdita, and it is a 4 hour bus ride to Cartagena and a 5 hour drive to Cabo De La Vela. All of the places I have mentioned are spectacular. When you were in Palomino, you needed to go tubing down the river; which is what it is known for.
(4:13) Santa Marta es la ciudad dé Colombia 🇨🇴 que más se paréce a Lima Perú 🇵🇪
Get a passion fruit batida mano, you will love it! I retire to Colombia in 3 years. ✌