Colombia!!!!!
Trip Start
Feb 11, 2010
1
15
48
Trip End
Jul 15, 2010
Where I stayed
Bogota, Colombia
Monday, March 15, 2010
The main square in La Candelaria is the Plaza de Bolivar. It has a statue of Simon Bolivar sculpted in 1846 by the Italian Pietro Tenerani, it was the first ever public monument in the city. The square is surrounded by alot of important buildings. On the southern side of the square is the Palace of Justice, a big modern building where the Supreme Court works. On the southern side of the square the National Capitol is located, which is the seat of the Colombian Congress. On the west side of the square there is a French style building known as the Lievano building which is the seat for Bogota`s mayor. The Cathedral Primada is located on the East and was built between 1807 and 1823.
The other major tourist attraction is El Museo del Oro, we´ve decided not to go in. It displays an extraordinary selection of its pre-Hispanic goldwork collection, the biggest in the world.
As we wandered around the town we stumbled on a little coffee shop, our first taste of Colombian coffee. It was brilliant, i´m not a massive fan of coffee and have no idea what "good" coffee should taste like but this was GOOD!!!
As always we managed to find a market with the potential for some bargainous souvenir shopping!!!
El Cerra de Monserrate is a mountain right in the city centre of Bogota, it´s fairly high (3,152metres) at the top there is a church with a shrine devoted to "El Señor Caído". As well as giving amazing views over the city of Bogota, and therefore popular with tourists (me & Egg) it is also a pilgrim destination. There are three ways to get to the top of Monserrate, unfortunately only one was available today when we ventured up it. You can get to the top by walking (not a chance), cable car or our chosen method the funicular, a funny looking train that climbs up an almost vertical track. Walking is how the pilgrims get up to the top but from the bottom it looked fairly steep and too much like hard work, our bible (the Lonely Planet) also warned of mugging along the route, making our decision to get the funicular all the more easy.
Unfortunately, today was pretty cloudy so although we got a great view of the city from the top our photos don´t do it justice. Along the pathway to the Church, there are a number of statues showing the story of Jesus and his Crucifiction, when you finally reach the church and have a look inside, Jesus appears to be black. All very bizarre, not sure if we´ve missed some sort of story here.
Literally the minute we stepped off the train the clouds lifted and the city was covered in bright sunshine, just our luck!!!!
Comments
I'm planning on going back to Bolivia, but would love to go through Bogota, since I found flights from Chicago to Bogota for $249 each, and we're used to the buses, but I am wondering how long it took you to go from Bogota to La Paz, and how much it was. My son is only four, so most of the trip, if not all, will be free for him. Was there a more direct route that you could have taken if you had wanted to? Did you have to get visas for every country you went through? I'm hoping you have time to answer all my questions, you're a wealth of information, and yes, I have to agree with your friends, you are awesome! I tried to send you a message, but it wouldn't let me even sign up. You can contact me at lorrianne @ gmail dot com if you would please. I'd really appreciate it.