Sightseeing Overview Quito is a small city but it has plenty to offer the sightseer. Old Quito is the jewel in the city’s crown, a maze of narrow cobbled streets and stunning colonial architecture with magnificent, gilded churches and monasteries, a wide range of museums and art galleries and elegant plazas with open-air cafes. Religious processions, complete with singing, dancing, bands and statues of the Madonna frequently wind their way through the streets, tossing rose petals en route (roses are one of Ecuador’s main exports). There are excellent restaurants and shops
selling beautiful indigenous crafts including rugs, weavings and pottery and, most notably, the silver jewelry for which the country is famous. 23km (14 miles) north of the city is Ciudad Mitad del Mundo, marking the Equator. There is a park, shops, restaurants and open-air music and dance. A couple of hours’ drive from Quito, there are a number of Andean nature reserves, notably Maquipucuna and El Pahuma. There are hot springs at El Tingo and La Merced, a national park at Cotopaxi and, for the energetic, climbing at Pichincha – though climbers should be aware of possible altitude sickness and always enquire about current volcanic activity. Quito has lively nightlife with everything from classical concerts to salsa clubs.
Tourist Information EcuadorTourismInformation Eloy Alfaro N32-300 Carlos Tobar Quito Ecuador Tel: (02) 3507559. Website: www.quito.com.ecorwww.vivecuador.com
Key Attractions:
TheOldCity The entire Old City of Quito is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Everyone should take the time to walk through the main squares – Plaza de la Independencia, Plaza de San Francisco and Plaza de Santo Domingo.
LaCompaniadeJesusChurch La Compania de Jesus Church was built in 1605 and has a breathtaking interior decorated with an estimated seven tons of gold leaf.
Calle Garcia Moreno, one block south of Plaza de la Independencia.
ElPanecillo El Panecillo means literally ‘little bread loaf’ and it is the best place to view the city beneath you and the volcanoes and mountains surrounding it. It is crowned by the massive statue of the Virgen de Quito, a winged Virgin Mary, as represented in Revelations.
MuseoNacionaldelBancoCentraldelEcuador This museum has a stunning collection of pre-Columbian artifacts, including some beautiful ceramics and objects made of gold. Other floors have fine art and sculpture.
6 de Diciembre y Avenida Patria Tel: (02) 2223259.
SanAgustinMonastery San Agustin Monastery has beautiful cloisters and is a national shrine to the heroes of the battle for independence and the place where many of them are buried.
Flores y Chile
Further Distractions:
MitaddelMundo 23km (14 miles) north of Quito is MitaddelMundo (Center of the Earth) where you can stand astride a painted line of the Equator with a foot in each hemisphere. There is also a good Ethnographic Museum representing all of Ecuador’s native peoples, a beautiful park, shops and shows.
Manuel Cordova Galarza Highway, San Antonio de Pichincha Tel: (02) 394806/04. Website: www.mitaddelmundo.com
MaquipucunaEcologicalReserve A short drive from Quito but a far cry from city life is the Maquipucuna Ecological Reserve in the cloud forest (1200-2800m) with numerous trails and the chance of seeing some of almost 400 bird species including parrots and toucans.
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