Advertisement
We arrived in Lima after dark. It is a large city, holding one third of Peru’s population. Thankfully we had a taxi waiting for us upon our arrival as I was feeling terrible - my flu had really taken hold. It was a long drive to the hotel, much of it followed the coast along a highway with high sandy cliffs on one side and a wide deserted seashore promenade on the other. We had booked a hotel in the beachside suburb of Barranco, an arty bohemian area of the city. The hotel was lovely (3B Barranco), a 1970’s house, renovated beautifully with modern Ikea design, managed by the daughter of the owner who was a well known artist. The walls were hung with his colourful paintings. It made a pleasant change after all the colonial hotels we had been staying in and had a wonderful power shower!
Next morning I woke feeling even worse so we had a very quiet day. Jerry made me get some fresh air so we walked along the cliffs - the beach was far below. Along the beach were many modern apartment blocks but behind them were some lovely old art deco style houses, most
in sad state of repair. The area was full of restaurants and nightclubs which all looked a bit tatty inn the daylight. We walked past the Australian Embassy which had a prime shorefront position.
Next day we caught a taxi to the main plaza - it is the oldest part of the city - the main cathedral and Archbishop’s Palace on one side, the President’s Palace on another. Jerry wanted to see the changing of the guard outside the palace - fancy Spanish Conquistador uniforms and lots of goose-stepping, but for some reason they cancelled it at the last moment. Soldiers in full riot gear came out and waved everybody away. The city centre wasn’t any where near as impressive as the main plaza in Lima. We wandered the area until we found the Monasterio de San Francisco, yellow in colour and covered with hundreds of pigeons. It is one of the best preserved of all the colonial churches in Lima. We thoroughly enjoyed the guided tour - the church had been beautifully restored, dozens of paintings, lots of blue and yellow wall tiles and a fascinating library full of thousands of antique texts, many dating back to the Spanish
Conquest. Under the monastery were large catacombs where 70,000 burials had taken place. The catacombs were lined with their bones.
From there we caught a taxi to the beachside suburb near where we were staying - Miraflores, a suburb full of hotels and restaurants. We listened to a local traditional band in the central park area before walking down towards the seafront. Built into the ocean front cliffs is a large shopping centre - a tourist attraction in itself - where there were many restaurants. We had a fabulous view of the shoreline - it was actually strange as the whole time in Lima it was hard to tell where the horizon was - the sky and the sea just blended together! After a meal we caught a small bus back to our hotel - I had certainly done enough for the day..
Avery slow start next morning before we caught a taxi to the Larco Museum. Absolutely loved that museum - it is privately owned and has one of the largest collections of pre Columbian art in the world. The Inca gold pieces were stunning. It has the only complete set of Inca gold dress in the world. The
enormous gold ear plugs that were worn plus the large nose pieces were my favourites. Every piece, particularly the ceramics, looked brand new - amazing restorations. The museum also houses a large collection of erotic pottery - it is very graphic! You could also explore the museums storerooms where all the matching pieces were lined up together in rows of glass cabinets. Literally dozens of pots featuring rabbits, then dozens more featuring crocodiles etc. It was all houses in a lovely old 18th century mansion almost covered in vibrant bougainvillea. Another bus took us back to the beachside shopping centre for a meal and then an early night. My flu hadn’t got much better.
Next morning caught the new Metro buses into the city - not a good move as the terminal was a long way from the colonial centre. But at least we had a long walk through the back streets (always a good indication of how the locals live) before we arrived at the main plaza to watch the changing of the guard - this time not cancelled, but it did start 15 minutes early! It was entertaining, though would have been more enjoyable had you been able
to get a bit closer. Lots of soldiers kept you well away from the palace - and the ceremony was within the palace grounds. It was funny to hear the brass band play El Condor Pasa - a tune you hear everywhere here. We spent the afternoon exploring the Archbishops Palace, relatively new as it was built in 1924 - it had some stunning carved balconies overlooking the plaza. Today it is a religious museum. Next door is the enormous main cathedral (built in 1535 but partly reconstructed many times since due to earthquakes) - it was lined with private chapels, many of them very ornate. We had a long walk around the seafront of Barranco that evening - we hadn’t done a lot in Lima - considering that we had spent five nights there but the flu I had really knocked me and despite still not feeling 100% we had booked a day bus next day to take us north of Lima to the Cordilleras Region - a decision we made on the spur of the moment and one we hoped we would enjoy!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.582s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 41; qc: 143; dbt: 0.4412s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.5mb
