Get the cannons ready! – Back to Fortín de La Galera on Margarita Island

Greetings to all the members of the community, how are you? This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to meet again with one of the places I used to visit at least once a year with my family during vacations when I was a child, the Fortín de La Galera, a construction dating from the 1800's and whose main function at the time was to protect the port of Juan Griego, as well as the bay of La Galera. With the passage of time it became a tourist site so that visitors could come to enjoy not only a piece of history, but also the magnificent views it gives you to be on top of a mountain. I must admit that I remembered it a bit bigger, I guess because when we are small we are a tiny flea compared to everything else around us and then when we return, it doesn't generate the same feeling.

This is before reaching the Fortín de La Galera

We did not go at a particularly early hour because one of the intentions was to be able to watch the sun go down. We had doubts about whether we would be charged to enter, as we had previously tried to enter in an area of the island where we arrived by chance and had to pay a cash fee, which although low, we did not have, because we do not carry cash on us most of the time when we drive around in a private car. I have mixed feelings that the place does not require any kind of payment to enter, since in a way, this increases the chances that it will not be kept in good condition... although there are others where they do charge, leaving the place without maintenance and deteriorating little by little. It is usual to find tourist structures in Venezuela that for lack of attention have lost much of their charm and attraction, ceasing to attract as many people as in better times.

However, this is not the case, because we found a well-kept structure, with all its spaces clean, well-kept green areas although with some sections with dirt without grass that aesthetically could be improved with some flowers. Although the main attraction of the site is the view, it is noticeable because when reviewing the photos I took I realized that there were many photos of how the island looks from that privileged position, but none where you could see the Fort of La Galera properly from the outside, mainly formed by stones joined together, a detail that can be seen in several of them. Walking on this surface may not be very comfortable for someone with motor difficulties, because although it is not so uneven, it has texture as a result of being composed of stones that are not uniform, so if you drag your feet while walking, you may stumble and cause an accident, the same if you decide to climb the walls.

If there is one feature that I love about being in Margarita Island is that you feel around you the nature with the imposing mountains always standing out in the background, that at least to me generates too much peace, because it is a big difference to be buried in the pollution of the city where I come from. The breeze that hits being up there is felt with a power that surprises, there were several moments where it practically dragged us around the site and was even about to make the phones fly out of our hands, something that would have been a tragedy because after the walls that make up the edge of the Fortin, what remains is a fall of several meters, to keep company to the giant cactus that also await you below. No matter that while I was taking the pictures my hair was doing a dance in several directions even though it was tied up with a bun, I decided that the most important thing is to have a good time with your family, and together with my cousin I enjoyed exploring every corner.

When we finally decided that we had satiated our desire to relive old memories and taken enough pictures, we left with the sun still in the process of setting, which gave us the opportunity to continue appreciating from below what this beautiful island has to offer. The only thing that I find sad about the area is that since there are not a lot of tourists, unlike previous times, the stores that are there are making an attempt not to close their doors and you can tell that they are empty. Something that I also missed in this visit to Fortín de La Galera was that there used to be people who were dedicated to tell stories in its facilities in exchange for some payment, it was an important part of the essence of going to the site, because these were told with a very characteristic tone of voice that was very difficult to forget. I hope that at some point this will come back, because it would bring a very nice feeling of nostalgia to those of us who lived those moments.

Tell me, would you like to visit Fortín de La Galera?

Thank you very much for reading my publication, I hope to meet you here in the next opportunity.

The photos are mine, taken from my Redmi Note 5 phone, as are the videos from which the GIFs were created, using the GIFShop application.