Exquisite, Atmospheric Antigua
Trip Start
Aug 20, 2011
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50
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Trip End
Dec 29, 2011
Antigua Guatemala, Western Highlands, Guatemala
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Originally the capital of Guatemala, (Antigua Guatemala just means Old Guatemala), the city was once the regional centre of trade and commerce for all of central America from 1543 until being dramatically destroyed by an earthquake in 1773. The capital and all it's infrastructure moved to what is now Guatemala City, but the town itself rebuilt, albeit on a smaller scale, and the entire old town is maintained in keeping with the period, with the ruins of many churches and monesteries still dotted throughout the city as they were left 250 years ago.
On top of all of this architectural beauty, the city was an artistic and culinary surprise and delight, which of course impressed Brendan and I no end :-) We found beautiful galleries tucked away down side streets, and true to form managed to indulge in 3 days of decadent degustation, sharing our patronage around as many of the best restaurants in town as we could get to, all for about a third of the price it would have cost anywhere else in the world! Naturally we didn't OVER-indulge, just sampled the best of what was on offer, having a course here and a course there ... temperance all the way, that's us ... ;-)
The pictures don't really do the place justice - everywhere you turned there was a little something beautiful to see - but it's definitely top of my list of places to return to. Absolutely stunning ...
Kxxx
