El Castillo Museo y Jardines, Medellin

It is a bit of an overstatement to call this a castle. It is a country house built in European style, which was the former residence of an influential family living in Medellin. The house itself is more of a mansion, rather than a castle (I estimate the house itself to contain no more than 12,000 square feet of living space). There are some unique and interesting art pieces inside, although you are forbidden from taking pictures of them due to copyright reasons. The family who lived here had an obvious fetish for Classical music composers, with Beethoven being the family's favorite. As well, the family's daughter (who tragically died at age 19) was named after a character from one of Wagner's most famous operas. Tours are offered in Spanish only. Although if you are lucky, some of the tour guides may give you a quick private tour in English. The library on the second floor is especially nice, and reminds us of a time when knowledge was stored in books and not on the Internet. If you can find it, there is a drawing on the second floor of various composers from different centuries standing next to each other, with Beethoven sitting in a commanding position in the center. The drawing is reminiscent of Raphael's School of Athens, but with composers replacing the philosphers. The gardens outside the mansion are tranquil and offer a nice respite from what can be a rather chaotic city. From the gardens you can enjoy a view of Medellin and the mountains nearby.

This is a must do while you visit Medellin, very affordable, entrance for 2 and parking will cost less than $10. The castle grounds are beautiful and there's a very informative tour around the castle, am not sure if this is offered in English... but regardless you will get many opportunities to shoot great pictures, even when you are not allowed to picture the inside of the castle the balconies and open verandas are quite beautiful.