After leaving our big tour and spending time in Rio de Janeiro for Carnival, we decided to extend our stopover in Bogota. In total, we spent 5 nights here – not enough to do everything, but enough to get a feel for the city.
On our first morning, we took a short walking tour of the historical district. Being a Sunday morning it happened to be their cycling day – the streets were packed with walkers, runners, and bikers. The sidewalks were packed with vendors. It was a nice atmosphere and great first impressions. The tour itself was very interesting, discussions regarding the history of the country and all the peaceful ceding of territories and land. It was also interesting to hear a bit about the country’s past (and present) troubles with the drug cartels.
We also tried a couple of local soups…mine was great…but unfortunately Laurence got ‘pork belly’ – a literal translation…
Our next venture out of the 4-star hotel apartment suite we to Monserrate Hill. We took a ride up the cable car and looked at the city – it was A LOT bigger than we expected.
Apart from wandering around our little neighbourhood as the traffic in this city is unbelievable!!! We ventured out to the city centre to check out the graffiti (or street art if you prefer). It was a good an interesting tour, end in the rain, but I think the art in Buenos Aries was better – more to my tastes.
All in all, Bogota was a great introduction to Colombia – I think next time we will head to Cartagena and the National Parks.