Clock Tower Gate (Torre del Reloj)

The Clock Tower is the main entrance to Cartagena's walled city — a yellow gateway originally built in the 16th century as a simple military entrance and later crowned with the clock tower that has become the symbol of the city. The gate opens onto Plaza de los Coches (Carriage Square), the plaza where enslaved Africans were bought and sold — a history that the plaza's current festive atmosphere (candy vendors, juice stalls, and the Portal de los Dulces arcade selling traditional sweets) deliberately does not erase but uncomfortably coexists with.

The Portal de los Dulces (Sweet Portal), an arcade on the plaza's south side, sells the traditional Caribbean sweets — cocadas (coconut candies), bolas de tamarindo (tamarind balls), and the dulce de leche variations that Colombian confectionery produces in abundance. The vendors, mostly Afro-Colombian women, maintain a tradition of sweet-making that connects the colonial-era market function of the plaza to its contemporary commercial use.

The Clock Tower is the most photographed structure in Cartagena — its position at the entrance to the walled city, framed by the colonial walls on both sides, creates the classic arrival shot that every visitor captures. The square behind the tower is the natural starting point for any walk through the old city.