Thursday: Had a great breakfast in the hotel restaurant; buffet style. And do I have to tell you how good Colombian coffee is ? Huge mugs, you pour your own mix of coffee and hot milk. YUM !
I then walked next door to the Museo Nacional de Colombia for a 3 hour visit. The museum is located in a building that was a penitentiary for 72 years ! It has three floors of exhibits. I have visited a lot of museums in my travels, and I must say that this one rates extremely high marks. It includes archeological displays, as well as paintings, sculptures, and gold and silver objects.
After leaving the museum I decided to go visit the "Plaza de Toros" which is a beautiful building in Moorish style.
Unfortunately it is closed and I found out later on that it is only open on special occasions for Corridas. I then walked next door to the Planetorium, which was also closed.... for renovations. Oh well.
The day started out cloudy, but it was starting to clear up, so I decided to take the cable car up to Monserrate. At the top of the mountain is the shrine of the Fallen Christ (church) as well as buildings which contain stores, restaurants, cafés.
The views of the city of Bogota are spectacular from up there.
It was past three by the time I'd finished walking around the site, so I made my way to one of the restaurants in "La Casa Santa Clara" which specializes in Colombian cuisine. (The building used to be in downtown Bogota and was going to be demolished in order to widen the avenue. It was completely dismanteled, brought up to the top of the mountain, and rebuilt ! )
I ordered Ajiaco, Bogota's signature meal, which is a huge bowl of soup/stew containing chicken, corn, potatoes & cream (Juana & Claude: It tasted a lot like something we ate in Lima at the first restaurant you took us to). I also treated myself to a nice cold glass of Sangria, and for dessert a chocolate cake topped with a cream mixture of dulce de leche. (Yvette j'ai pensé à toi en le dégustant !) And of course to finish it off, a nice 'tasa de cafe con leche'. And I could pay for it all on my VISA card. How very civilized after the problems encountered in Venezuela.
I asked a question of one of the ladies who worked at the restaurant and we got into a long conversation in Spanish. Turns out she lived 6 years in Ottawa, and her son was born there. Adriana was so impressed with my travel plans that she went to get a great book for me about all the things to do while in Bogota.
Cable car back down the mountain, taxi ride back to the hotel, what a great day !
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