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Bogota

Bogota is known to some as the ‘Athens of Latin America’ with its cultured and well-educated population and it is considered to be a literary and artistic hub.

The city was founded in 1538 high up on a fertile plain, surrounded by the Andes mountains. The city’s historical centre, with many fine colonial buildings known as ‘La Candaleria’, is the most charming area in which to stay. Here you will find cobbled streets, the best Gold museum in Latin America with the richest collection of pre-Hispanic gold anywhere in the world, plus the Botero Art Museum with all the fatties!

Bogota hosts the world’s largest theatrical event, the international Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogota (click here to check out the website in Spanish).

There are excellent museums, restaurants, bars and theatres and wonderful half day and day trips from Bogota. One is the unique salt cathedral of Zipaquira. The cathedral, carved out of a rock salt mine, is about 50 metres underground with an intricate network of tunnels and chambers. It has been open to the public since 1995 and and can hold about 8000 people!

There is a four hour city tour, with a bilingual guide, which will help you understand the history of the city and you should take a ride up Monserrate hill, by funicular railway and cable car, to get wonderful views over the whole city. It is worth noting that the recently renovated Gold Museum is closed on Mondays (but free on Sundays) and the Botero Art Museum is closed on Tuesdays.

Hotel de la Opera is a smart boutique hotel in the historic core of the city known as La Candelaria. With 30 elegantly simple rooms all in a beautifully restored colonial building, your stay here will be very comfortable. More…

Hotel Charleston Casa Medina is 7 km from the downtown area and located in ‘Zona G’ the gourmet zone of Bogota. The building was built in 1945 by Don Santiago Medina combining French and Spanish architecture and was converted into a small hotel in 1988 and is a national monument. More…

For an interesting article on Bogota featured recently (Nov 8th, 2008) in the Weekend FT, click here.

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