Cartagena de Indias was one of the great Spanish ports of the Caribbean, the point where the wealth of South America was gathered, guarded and shipped to Europe, and consequently one of the most heavily fortified cities in the Americas. Its port, fortresses and monuments are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The episode works on three levels. Military: the circuit of walls and bastions and the hilltop fortress designed to make the city impregnable against corsairs and rival fleets. Urban: the colonial grid inside the walls, with its plazas, arcaded streets, wooden balconies and flowering courtyards. Human: a city built on the labour and suffering of enslaved Africans, whose descendants shaped the Caribbean culture visible today in its music, food and street life. Filmed in 4K, the walls at sunset and the ochre facades give the programme immediate visual identity.
