Centro Historico

I told you that we didn't take pictures the first time we traveled to Quito Viejo or Centro Historico because it was Independence day and we didn't want to look like tourists (anymore than we had too...).  But have no fear, we I busted out the camera on our next trip to old town to share with you the unbelievable sights that Quito has to offer.  Even with two visits we haven't seen nearly all that we want to, but I'll share what we have so far (to get you pumped for your own visit).

Here we are in Plaza de Independencia.  This is the 'main' plaza where we found many flowered wreaths and tourists on Independence day.  It also has a decent amount of greenery and many many benches for folks to sit and people watch.  Every time we've been here (twice) the benches have been lined with folks, mostly eating ice cream (helado) or espumilla (which I wrote about after our first visit to old town).  

This is Catedral Metropolitano de Quito.  We were visiting on a Sunday so they were finishing mass, but we got to peak inside for a bit. 

This is the Carondelet Palace or President's house.  Apparently it is open to the public, you just need to wait your turn to go inside.  There has been a line around the block both times we walked past. 

You can see some of the greenery (i.e. shade) and benches!

You can see the monument to the independence heroes in the middle there (and what a gorgeous freaking day it was...everyday).

These are some quick pictures I snapped in Catedral Metropolitano de Quito.  All of the churches we've been in have very graphic and lifelike (they almost remind me of figures you'd see in a wax museum) crucifixes.  

Let me always say that my pictures in no way, shape or form do these sights justice.  The ceiling was made out of wood and so intricate and beautiful I had to attempt a photo.

After walking around the plaza, we ended up on a tour of an active convent just a few blocks from the square.  Mariana de Jesus was a nun at the convent.  She is the patron saint of Ecuador and the first person from Ecuador to be canonized.  The tour was in Spanish and we couldn't take pictures inside, but I took a few when we were out in courtyard.  In addition to finding the cloister quite beautiful, the tour and exhibits/displays were very engaging.  I tried to take some pictures of the interactive stuff for my museum studies inclined friends.

They added the glass to the arched windows to protect the art that has been painted along the walls.

At this exhibit, folks on the tour got to 'vote' (with the colored ping pong balls) which saint or religious leader they most identified with.  Also you can see the nun we had on our tour.  She kept ending up next to me and obviously wanted to share her wisdom (cause she kept talking to me) but with my Spanish being all but non existent and her English the same...we never made the connection.

Its a little hard to see but this map (of Quito) had little doors you could pull away that revealed information on other convents in the city. (Again super interactive and cool.)

Mariana de Jesus was apparently a big deal around here.  The wooden walkway you see on the right marked her quarters (or area) of the convent.

This is another one of those thislookedsomuchbetterinperson photos, but you can see The Virgin from inside the courtyard.

Then we took a walk through Plaza de San Francisco (which if you remember correctly, was where we saw the awesome show with all of the fire that I wrote about here).  You may recognize Iglesia de San Francisco in the background there.  This is another beautiful plaza, but has less greenery and benches.  Most people seem to be walking through or headed into Iglesia de San Francisco.  We stepped inside the church for a bit to see the terrifying (and massive) painting of judgement day that they have displayed.  I've never seen hell depicted quite so vividly.  

Can you find Javier in this photo? 

A view of the plaza from the steps of Iglesia de San Francisco.

This is Hotel Boutique Portal de Cantuna, the most expensive hotel in Quito.  I think I mentioned it in my other post, but all the Ecuadorians point it out, so I figured its worth mentioning...again.

This picture doesn't show it well at all, but the top half of these stairs were cut into the stone and the bottom half built out from the stone.  It makes it look like they folded the bottom half down from the top half.  You'll just have to trust me that it looks really cool or come visit and see for yourself.

Just a quick introduction to the many spots Centro Historico has to offer.  In addition to the amazing churches, that area of town if fun to walk around in.  There are tons of vendors selling food (everywhere) and tourists and music and people watching.  I'm sure we'll spend some more tourist time down there as the year progresses!