Advertisement
Published: November 1st 2009
Edit Blog Post
What a beautiful city Quito is. We flew in over the very different landscape, (compared with the tropical countries we've visited recently), mountainous and arid, into a very easy, small airport with no immigration hassles to our relief (you're supposed to show a ticket out of Ecuador which we didn't possess). We were met by the driver of the hotel which made it just about the easiest transfer we've done.
We were staying at Cafe Cultura (yes, slumming it again in a boutique hotel!!) was a beautiful and unique hotel nonetheless. We first stayed in a room at the back of the hotel with peacocks and trees painted on the walls. The artist has done a beatiful job and the room was unique and comfortable. We've had to move to a room with a real tree in the middle of it - interesting room to say the least, but the bathroom needs a lot of attention. We're paying considerably less than the rack rate so I guess we can't expect to have the best room in the house. I think we're getting fussy after so many gorgeous hotels recently. We headed out briefly for food and found a great spot
at a cafe in the late afternoon sun with a good band playing. Quito so far seemed quite cosmopolitan and European.
Our first trip into Quito's historic centre left us speechless. First we visited the Convent and Church of Carmen (circa 1600's), a beautiful and serene place with some fantastic paintings and sculptures. Several priests still live in part of the convent.
A snack lunch of empanadas and locro (potato & cheese soup) and we were ready to see some more.
On the outside, Iglesia de la Compania looked nice, but small. Inside, we were blown away by the impressive interior, everything was gilded and incredibly ornate. Somehow it didn't look OTT or tacky, but classic and beautiful. They claim it's the most beautiful church in the Americas and we're inclined to believe it. Even Amy was awestruck by it. It was fully restored a few years ago following an earthquake and it was immaculate.
Then onto Convent of San Francisco, just as beautiful as Carmen, however the church was in the midst of being restored. There were plenty of plazas to wander around too, with beautiful central statues and a few trees.
Day two
and we didn't get far - to an indigenous indian market to look at tourist tat and just to Avenue Amazonas which has most of the modern shops, agencies, banks, embassies etc. Somehow we ended up at KFC for dinner which Amy was thrilled with as they had a kiddies play area. We didn't mind either as the food tasted good and familiar.
Day three and we headed back into the historic centre, starting with La Basilica. An impressive baroque style facade, but built only 120 years ago, the interior was grand, but simple. However, the highlight was taking the lift to the different floors of the towers and finally walking to the very top of one of the towers by a series of ladders. It was a bit hair-raising and health & safety didn't seem to be important, but it was well worth the effort. (nb. Andy & Amy stayed safely mid-tower only of course). The top of the Basilica was ornate and gave a fantastic view over the city.
We then visited the Cathedral and museum just off Plaza Grande. Again, once inside, we couldn't believe how beautiful the church was. It was exciting just how
different it was, so original, so ornate. There were various chapels which were also amazing. The museum itself housed some stunning priests robes and galleries of paintings.
Finally, before we left the old town, we "popped" into the Santo Domingo museum as we happened to be passing it. This turned out to be just as mind-boggling and awesome as the other churches and convents we'd seen. There was the most amazing gallery of paintings of The Martyrs in the priests dining hall (nice and graphic in that they were painted in the image of their death - i.e. with their heads gashed/chopped off/hearts stabbed - very gruesome). This sparked off Amy on some "heaven, God, Jesus, resurrection etc" discussions. There were chapels which had been repainted over a century ago a by the Italians, to make them even more ornate and rich in colour. Santo Domingo is still used today for worship - lucky worshipers!
Quito is filled with some of the most amazing architecture we've seen. The streets are interesting, but what makes Quito so special is when you step inside these historic buildings - they are truly full of surprises.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.11s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 61; dbt: 0.0636s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb