Neighborhoods of Bogota. Sights of Bogota. Natural History Museum

Bogota (Santa Fe de Bogota) is a rather ancient city. Its name dates back to the settlement of Indians who lived here long before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. And perhaps, once upon a time, this city shone and aroused admiration. However, now it has turned into a huge garbage dump. And my only desire when walking around Bogota personally was to hide in a bubble and not in any way come into contact with the surrounding reality.

Of course, not everything we saw in the Colombian capital was categorically unpleasant for us! For some reason, before our visit, it seemed to me that it was interesting and there were many sights to see. But in fact it turned out that the best place in Bogota was a hotel. Or museums. We also visited Colombia.

• Cheap flights to Bogota and see the flight schedule follow this link(fly 17 hours).

Surprisingly, I did not feel threatened during my stay in Bogota. It didn't seem to me that anything could happen. We walked several times in the evening to the large Exito super-market (by the way, this is a very good super-market!) along Caracas Street, and, despite the busy flow of people, crime did not want to greet us.

We found it curious that it was here that men in national clothes and with musical instruments gathered, waiting for work. Apparently, when a singer or musician is needed for a holiday, they choose him here. In Bogota you can buy everything on the streets: both girls and men.

I have heard the phrase “if you can skip Bogota, skip it” many times. Now I understand its meaning. And my advice is the same. Only those who are interested in the decay and details of the dying of a once flourishing city should go to Bogota. Although the Colombian authorities are doing a lot to combat drug addiction and crime, the city is not completely safe for tourists, but rather the opposite. To all this we can add that most of the historical buildings have been destroyed and are not being restored.

But if suddenly you need to spend a couple of days here, then don’t skimp and choose a hotel in a better area and pay more money for it than you are used to. The less you deal with the surrounding reality, the better it will be.

We spent a total of five days in the Colombian capital, since ours started from Bogota, and I must say that we spent this time usefully. We spent two days walking around the center and Champinero, and visited two museums. And in the remaining days we rested at the hotel, prepared for the flight or rested after it.

Hotels in Bogota

We settled in the Chapinero area, which is so called because of the football stadium. The area wasn't safe, but it wasn't a den of crime either. Let's just say that everything was in moderation. Until six in the evening we were threatened only by peaceful homeless people who showed their faces to society. And the police were not lazy and rode through the streets, watching what was happening. And with the onset of darkness, instead of law enforcement officers, girls of easy virtue appeared. And no one stopped them from working. Such is the order here: everyone knows everything, something happens, and no one does anything.

Therefore, we would advise you to approach the choice of a hotel carefully and be sure to choose a good hotel near the tourist area - the mall area in Champinero or Candelaria.

• You can look at hotels in Chapinero (almost the very center and not expensive).

• Hotel Cabrera Imperial Suites- grade 9.1 . 5* hotel in the Champinero area with spa, fitness center, solarium and restaurant. The Cabrera Imperial Suites hotel differs from others in the presence of a Turkish bath. Spacious rooms have a kitchenette, and the hotel serves an American breakfast. There are shopping centers, cafes and restaurants nearby.
• Casa Dann Carlton Hotel & Spa- grade 8.7 . 5 star hotel in the Champinero area with spa, sauna and indoor pool. The hotel has a very large fitness center. The spacious rooms are equipped with a work desk.
• The Orchids- grade 9.3 . Small luxury 5* hotel in the Candelaria area in an antique style with a fireplace and refined furnishings.

Here are cheap hotels in Bogota in the city center

• Hotel Casa de la Vega- grade 9.3 . Beautiful 4* boutique hotel located in a renovated old house in the Candelaria area. Breakfast is included in the price and the rooms are clean and comfortable.
• Hotel Regina- grade 8.4 . Hotel in the Candelaria area with kitchenette in the room. The hotel rooms have heating, which is important in cold Bogota. Breakfast is included in the price. The hotel has a beautiful terrace overlooking the city, as well as a sauna. Hotel Regina is located next to the Gold Museum.

We lived in a cozy family hotel in the Champinero area. But we cannot recommend it to you, since, unfortunately, it has closed.

Transport in Bogota

However, if you are forced to use public transport (Transmilenio), I can say that this is a convenient method of moving around the capital and quite safe. We used it all the time. And we have information about transport in Bogota.

Walk through the center of Bogota

We walked in and around Plaza Bolivar. And even here everything appeared in a rather depressing state. Only the closed areas around the government palace know what cleaning is. And outside of it, strange personalities walk, it is unclear in what world they reside. Bogota was swallowed up by some kind of swamp of indifference. So one day of exploring the Colombian capital was enough for us.

Central square of the city

Inside one of the existing temples

Government buildings and monuments are fenced off

Architectural elements of different cultures in South America sometimes coexist with each other

Here you and your backpack will be checked, and only then will you be allowed to look at government buildings

You can immediately see the historical center of the country

And here too there are elements of antiquity

And here you can feel the influence of Gothic

A huge balcony on the house is a characteristic feature of colonial architecture in Colombia

Bogota skyscrapers - modern architecture

Financial center in Bogota

And these girls invite you to the most interesting Gold Museum in the world

Currency exchange in Bogota

In Colombia, we were faced with the fact that it is impossible to exchange dollars for local pesos in banks. Western Union is used for these purposes. They change it there, but they change it at not the best rate, not at what is designated as the official rate in the country. This applied to small towns like and. However, already in, where there are more tourists, an office was discovered that deals with currency exchange, but also with a rate favorable to it alone.

And finally, we are in the capital of Colombia. And lo and behold! In the city center, near the Gold Museum, the good old money changers have finally been discovered, where it says cambio! Of course, the exchange rate here is also not the best, but it is more profitable than those at which we exchanged before. We went around several points and made sure that they all had the same offer for tourists.

Walking around Champinero

Since we did not feel any particular danger, we decided to walk around the area where we settled. We walked towards the center, walked several kilometers until we reached the National Museum. It was a weekend and there were very few people on the street. Quiet and calm, no thefts or robberies, apparently crime also sometimes takes time to rest. It must be said that on weekends traffic in the central part of the city is blocked so that cyclists feel at ease. In this way, Bogota is trying to avoid traffic jams and give residents the opportunity to exercise. And I must say, many take advantage of this opportunity, because it’s so cool to ride a bicycle along a wide street.

One of the cyclists passing by stopped us and carefully reported that it was in vain that we were taking such risks and walking around with a camera. We urgently need to go to the center, where it is safe, but he does not advise us to walk in Champinero in order to avoid robbery. Advising them to be vigilant, he drove off. But nothing happened to us.

A street in Bogota, departing from the central one, leads towards the mountains

Day off. The center is free today

Youth skateboarding

The walls of buildings in Bogota, even on the main street, are covered with numerous graffiti

Bogota is located on the western slope of the Corllillera in a pit at a considerable altitude. The city was originally founded on the Rio San Francisco river. Now this river simply does not exist. The climate in the country is moderate. In summer the temperature does not rise more than fifteen degrees, but in winter it can be up to minus eleven degrees. It should certainly be noted that the city is prone to frequent earthquakes due to its geographical location.

Sometimes the city experiences frosts and very rarely snowfalls. A significant number of forests and shrubs grow on the territory of the city; pumas, jaguars, peccaries, monkeys, armadillos, and porcupines live.

Among the attractions, noteworthy is the Cathedral, which was founded in 1572-1610. Restored in 1998. This cathedral is located in Plaza Bolivar. The Presidential Palace is where you can see the magnificent and original changing of the guard ceremony.

We also note the Church of Santa Clara, the Church of San Ignacio. You should also visit the “hill of miracles” - bright and truly mesmerizing.

Bogota is home to the world-famous Gold Museum, which is a unique cultural institution of its kind. This museum contains works of art and jewelry made from precious metal. All of them were made by Indian craftsmen back in the pre-Columbian era; such a museum no longer exists in the world. Hundreds of rings, bracelets, gold masks and various ritual attributes are just some of the exhibits that can be seen in this museum. Copyright www.site

Those who like to walk in unusual places should go to Carrera 3. This street is considered one of the most colorful and creative places in the city; literally all the buildings here are decorated with bright graffiti designs. This street has long been chosen by local artists; there are many bohemian cafes, art workshops and craft shops, as well as shops where you can buy handmade jewelry and accessories. It is here that tourists buy a popular national souvenir – hand-knitted “mochila” bags.

Fans of unusual excursions should climb to the top of Montserrat Mountain; it rises to 3,150 meters and is the highest point in the city. You can climb to the top of the mountain on foot, or you can take a cable car. The mountain offers a magnificent view of the city, from here you can take excellent memorable photographs. Tourists should take into account that it rains almost constantly at the top of the mountain, so you should definitely take a raincoat or umbrella with you.

Nature lovers will be interested in visiting the El Salitre area; it is one of the greenest and most picturesque in the city. There are many beautiful parks, open-air sports grounds, and a water park. This is where the Jardín Botánico botanical garden is located, and Unidad Deportiva el Salitre Park is considered one of the most attractive places for a picnic.

The Chapinero district boasts wonderful architectural sights, including the ancient church of Nuestra Señora del Lourdes and the popular Teatro Libre. Many of the architectural monuments presented in this area were built at the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries, here is the spectacular building of the National Capitol, as well as the National University of Colombia, which opened in 1867. This picturesque historical area is also home to several prestigious hotels.

After the cold and rainy Tunja, I moved to the equally cold and rainy capital of Colombia Bogota (Bogota)(emphasis on the last syllable, i.e. “a”!).

Perhaps the bad weather was to blame for everything, or it takes more time to feel and love the capital, but in 4 days Bogota did not charm me. The modern, clean and beautiful outskirts of the city gave way to a noisy and dusty center with houses of all sizes (from one-story to skyscrapers) and styles (from ancient colonial buildings, which were in the minority, to gray concrete monstrosities in the style of a "Soviet office center"). I stayed in a wonderful hotel in the La Candelaria area, the old part of Bogota and its original center, where all the most interesting museums and churches are concentrated. And even Candelaria didn’t grab my attention. Very little antiquity remains in Bogota, as the city was often destroyed by earthquakes, and almost the entire center was destroyed during a powerful uprising in 1948.

To be honest, I felt quite uncomfortable walking the streets of Bogota with beggars and beggars - capital cities always attract rabble. That's why I concentrated my efforts on museums, since they are wonderful in Bogota!

To warm up, I went to a free Police Museum , located in a 100-year-old building of French architecture. Each visitor (or group of visitors) is given a personal guide, one of the 18-year-old boys dressed in police uniforms, thus undergoing their army service. I had the wonderful Daniel, who speaks very good English, give me a 2-hour tour through several floors of the museum, which tells the story of the creation of the modern Colombian police force in 1892 and who performed police functions in the pre-Columbian era when Colombia Only Indians lived there, and since the 16th century, when colonialists settled here. There are rooms dedicated to different police departments (mounted, traffic, anti-drug), and there are those that talk about social services. providing police. Everything is very interesting and well done - the latter is not only about the museum, but also about the Colombian police in general.

Halfway through the tour, Daniel invited me to their cafeteria, where we drank coffee in the company of several other young police officers. Also completely free. They also took me to the roof of the museum, where there is a wonderful 360-degree panorama and a great view of the roofs of Candelaria and the mountains around, and Daniel told me about some of the buildings and showed me where the police department was located 100 years ago, while it was in the 20s of the past century did not move to the newly built building, which is now occupied by the museum.

Then I went to the free museum Casa de Moneda , dedicated to money, but there was little information there in English, which didn’t last me for a long time. It was nice that on the way out the guard gave me a commemorative coin.

The next one was wonderful and free Fernando Botero Museum , the most famous Colombian artist. In addition to sculptures and paintings by the master himself, there was a room with paintings by European impressionists and a couple of rooms with sculptures and paintings by Colombian figures.

If the huge sculptures of Fernando Botero, which I had already seen in Cartagena and Bucaramanga in the form of giant naked women, somehow did not particularly charm me, then I fell in love with his paintings at first sight! He has a completely unique style, and all his images are very kind and warm, sure to make you smile - just look at the Mona Lisa alone, which probably weighs about two hundredweight.

Just behind the Fernando Botero Museum there is an exhibition hall with changing exhibitions - on my visit there were wonderful paintings of Bogota and Colombia from the 19th century.

For me, the strongest and brightest museum in Bogota was the Museo del Oro or Museum gold (free on Sundays) with its incredibly stunning and breathtakingly incredible collection of gold and pottery from pre-Columbian Colombia, i.e. those times when numerous Indian tribes lived here and there were no colonialists yet. Truly, the people who inhabited this area had a rich imagination, because I had never seen such bizarre images of various creatures before.

In addition to a variety of gold and clay products, images of Indians, hung on all sides with gold jewelry, have been recreated - it is not without reason that the first Spanish visitors who landed on the shores of the future Colombia were amazed by the abundance of gold on the local residents.

All exhibits are accompanied by excellent commentary in English; there are screens throughout the museum on which you can watch educational videos, for example, about different techniques for making gold figurines. One of the techniques is the lost-wax method, when first a figurine is sculpted from wax, then coated with clay, when the clay hardens, all this is heated to the melting temperature of the wax, it flows out, and a mixture of molten gold and copper is poured into the resulting space. When the mixture cools and hardens, the clay is broken down to create a three-dimensional figurine. In general, after spending 4 hours in the museum, I was so delighted that I decided to definitely go to both ancient archaeological sites in the south of Colombia (San Agustin and Tierradentro) to learn even more about the life of the people who inhabited Colombia before the arrival of the Spaniards. And, by the way, if in different regions of Southeast Asia I often caught myself thinking that I was 50 years late with my visit, then, of course, I should have gone to Colombia at the beginning of the 16th century even before the first Spaniards - such an amazingly interesting region it was, until the Spaniards slaughtered most of the Indians and destroyed ancient cultures!

To learn more about how people dress in different regions of Colombia, I went to the small Museo de Trajes Regionales or Museum of Regional Costumes (3000 COP), which presents different types of sombreros, wicker bags and clothes. I already heard about this in Guatemala and read about it again here: before the arrival of the Spaniards, the Indians did not wear any clothes and only painted their bodies with various natural colors (this is still done by rare tribes of Amazonian Indians living in the wilderness inaccessible to civilization and the church) . And only with the advent of the Catholic Church, the colonialists, at the instigation of the priests, introduced into the everyday life of the Indians clothes that were different for each tribe (and sometimes village). So those outfits that can be seen among different Indian tribes in Latin America today are the result of the evolution of those outfits that were adopted by their ancestors five centuries ago.

And finally I went to the free National museum , where there was a little bit of everything: gold/clay products of pre-Columbian Indians, colonial interior items, religious attributes in the form of icons and statues of saints, and a story about the great Colombian Magdalena River. Comments, however, were only in Spanish everywhere, but in front of the entrance to each room there was a sign with an English description of the main exhibits. In general, the museum is one of those “go if you have absolutely nothing to do” series, unlike the previous ones.

And in Bogota, I visited a beautiful mountain rising above the city called Monserrate (3152 meters). Every Saturday and Sunday, perhaps a couple of million of Bogota's ten million people make the 1,500-step climb to the top, which takes up to an hour and a half. At the top there is a newly built church, built on the site of one destroyed by an earthquake - it is a place of pilgrimage, although it seemed to me that most people stomp up simply for the love of sports and a healthy lifestyle. After the “stormy” days in Tunja, I still didn’t feel strong enough to walk that high, so I did the unsporting thing and took the cable car up, especially since I love cable cars. And I went down on foot, observing the suffering of millions of Bogotians who were rising and rising. One pilgrim was definitely among them - a man climbed the rain-wet steps on his knees!

At the top, in addition to the church, where the Sunday morning service was just going on, there were dozens of souvenir shops and several restaurants. And the clouds passed right in front of my nose and blocked the entire view of the city below. True, when there was a gap in the clouds, it turned out that the view of Bogota from above was not very good - just as bad as from below, because there was somehow little beauty in the city for my taste.

At the foot of the mountain, on the occasion of the weekend, many restaurants with cheap food were opened - what could be better than hot, fragrant Tamales and a glass of fresh orange juice for breakfast on a cold and cloudy Sunday afternoon!?

On weekdays, walking to the foot of the mountain where the funicular station is located, much less climbing the steps to the top, is categorically not recommended, because lonely travelers are often robbed along this path. On weekends, millions of people go to the foot of the mountain and up the mountain, there are police everywhere, so you feel safer than ever.

The center of life in Candelaria is Plaza de Bolivar or Square already familiar to us Bolivar . The square overlooks the large and beautiful (from the outside) Cathedral, which was destroyed many times by earthquakes and acquired its current appearance only after restoration following the destruction during the 1948 uprising. Next to it is a church that has survived everything and everyone called Capilla del Sagrario, preserved from colonial times. This is where the beauty of the square ends, and the harsh reality begins. The Palace of Justice, originally built in 1921, was burned down during the 1948 uprising. The second version, built in its place, was captured in 1985 by partisans from the revolutionary movement M-19, taking 300 people hostage. After a 28-hour siege of the building, 115 hostages were killed, including 11 supreme judges. After that, the third version of the Palace of Justice was built on the long-suffering site - something unremarkable and ugly. Opposite it, across the square, stands the Capitolio Nacional, the seat of Congress, completely different in appearance from the beautiful Capitols in Washington and Havana. The building, completed in 1926, is also not particularly beautiful. And they clearly don’t like him, because traces of paint “bombs” are visible on the walls and windows. In the middle of the square stands a statue of Simon Bolivar, the pedestal of which is covered with spray-painted inscriptions, and around some homeless-looking demonstrators have pitched their tents.

All day long they sell corn for pigeons in the square, so there’s no escape from pigeons there, just have time to dodge a flock of them taking off, scared off by someone. And there are also charming llamas that you can ride or take pictures with. My first llamas - eh, I hope to see them in the wild soon. And all 4 days while I was in Bogota, some kind of rallies and demonstrations took place in the square: either miners in helmets, or noisy students, or funny young people with theatrically painted faces and on stilts (even policemen on stilts were seen). A cultural city, damn it!

In addition to Candelaria, the relative center of Bogota has streets lined with office skyscrapers, and there is the Zona Rosa district with expensive housing, restaurants, bars and nightclubs. I passed it by bus, but didn’t find anything interesting there. Must be a comfortable place to live. Like the pretentious area of ​​Bucaramanga that I loved.

By the way, about buses. For a long time, the authorities of Bogota dreamed of a metro and even spent three decades on survey work, but in the end they gave up and created a modern bus transport system called TransMilenio. TransMilenio has its own dedicated and fenced-off lanes, its own safe, clean and clear stations and transfer hubs with ticketed entry. At the station, each bus drives up to its own section of the glass platform and stops exactly opposite the doors, similar to the St. Petersburg metro. In general, everything is convenient and clearly faster than jostling through capital traffic jams on regular buses. True, TransMilenio also has slight congestion from its own buses at stations, although there are two lanes allocated there: one for stopping at your platform, the other for traveling to your stop or leaving the platform.

Just 20 years ago, Bogota was one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Two charismatic mayors who led the local administration for a decade from 1993 helped her change.

The first was Antanas Mokus, the Bogotá-born son of Lithuanian immigrants, who came to power in 1993. During his reign, the murder rate in the capital fell by 70%, and deaths from road accidents by 50%. For his purposes, he used very unusual methods. For example, to draw attention to traffic rules, he hired 420 mimes who made fun of rule violators on the roads. When there were water shortages in Bogota, he appeared on TV taking a shower, suddenly turned off the water, still covered in soap suds, and asked residents of the capital to reduce their water consumption - the result was minus 40% in consumption. He was also the originator of Women's Night, in which men were asked to stay home and look after the children, the city sponsored concerts and other outdoor events, bars served only women's drinks, and it was all enjoyed by 700,000 women under the protection of policewomen.

While Antanas Mockus was unsuccessfully chasing the presidency and until he returned to the mayor's post in 2001, the mayor of Bogotá was an equally progressive dude named Enrique Penaloza, who was often seen riding his bike around Bogotá - he increased the number of bike paths (now in Bogotá more than three hundred kilometers of excellent bike paths) and created Sunday Ciclovia, when more than a hundred kilometers of roads are closed to vehicles for half a day and people ride bicycles and rollerblades along them (I observed a similar practice in other large Colombian cities). He also opposed the continuation of dreams on the topic of the metro and for the creation of TransMilenio.

And now Bogota has problems, like any big city, but the positive is noticeable even to a person who has stayed in the capital for only 4 days. As Enrique Penalosa said about Bogota in 2007: “I have never known a city that its inhabitants hated so much. He has changed more than I dreamed." So it's good that I didn't come to Bogota 20 years ago.

The path from Bogota to my next destination was not close, and I decided to take a night bus, since the Internet wrote that this road was safe.

Having picked up my backpack from the hotel, I went to catch a city bus to get to the bus station. I don’t know how things are on the outskirts of Bogota, but in its center there are no bus stops, and buses stop at every pillar at the request of people. Which is convenient when you are already riding in it and want to get out right in front of your entrance, but not particularly convenient when you are still on the sidewalk, because the buses are moving in a dense stream, it’s not so easy to see the names of directions (especially at dusk) and stop the right one in time It’s simple, besides, some buses travel not in the right lane, but in the left lane, and it’s almost impossible to stop one.

After half an hour of fruitless attempts to find the right bus, I puzzled the policeman with this question, who stopped the bus I needed, which was walking in the left lane.

While I was slowly driving through traffic jams in a crowded bus, it became completely dark. It turned out that despite the inscription “Terminal” on the sign on the windshield, the bus did not enter the terminal, passing about a kilometer away. With all my belongings, I unloaded into the crowd of people waiting for their buses and asked where the terminal was? A very nice guy explained everything to me in detail, and then every 100 meters I checked with the people I met whether I was walking correctly. In 15 minutes I walked through the dark streets of the outskirts of Bogota, and nothing bad happened to me. Fortunately, the bus terminal is in a good area without slums, and all the people I met on the streets were ordinary good people.

At night I wanted to take the very best bus, so I bought a ticket from Expresso Brasilia, one of the best bus companies in Colombia. The bus was really good, however, all the long-distance buses I've taken before were very comfortable. But 5 minutes after leaving the bus terminal, the driver stopped at an intersection with about a couple of dozen large boxes, which he loaded into the luggage compartment with the help of the senders. I could only hope that he had already earned the necessary part of the left-handed money that night and would not pick up passengers along the way, because it is after such nightly pick-ups of left-wing dudes in South America that most bus robberies happen.

Having watched a traditional bus movie with the rest of the passengers for bedtime, I slept pretty well for the remaining 6-7 hours of the journey, waking up about halfway at 3 a.m. at the “lunch” stop, where half the bus went outside to warm up.

And the administrative center of the department of Cundinamarca (Spanish: Cundinamarca). The city is located in the Andean region, in the intermontane depression of the Eastern Cordillera at an altitude of more than 2640 m above sea level. Bogota's population is more than 10.7 million people, its area is about 1,775 km², it is the largest city in Colombia, one of the largest metropolises in the country, it is an independent administrative unit - a metropolitan district, divided into 20 districts.

Bogota is the largest economic, financial, cultural and industrial center of the state, the most important South American economic center. Most Colombian companies have their headquarters in the capital.

The city has a developed transport system, in which the bus has absolute priority.

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Population, religion

Most of the residents of the metropolis are indigenous Colombians, among whom there is a clear predominance of mestizos - descendants of mixed marriages between Europeans and Indians. A small part of the population is represented by purebred Indians, descendants of Europeans, mulattoes, blacks and Sambos (Afro-Indians). In fact, about ¾ of the population of the capital of Colombia is “mixed blood”.

The vast majority of religious residents of the capital belong to the Roman Catholic Church. There are several Protestant churches in the city.

Natural conditions

Bogota is located in the intermontane depression of the East (western slope), at an altitude of about 2610 m above sea level. m., on the banks of the small river Rio San Francisco (Spanish: Riu San Francisco), which today cannot be seen, because it flows through pipes. Although the city is practically located on the equator, there is no heat there. The average temperature of the warmest month of the year (December) is +25°C, and the coldest month (May) is about +14°C. The average annual daytime air temperature is about 19-22°C, nighttime 7-11°C. Sometimes frosts are possible in the capital, and snowfalls are very rare. In general, Bogota can be called a city of constant rain; to be honest, the weather here is rarely good.

Due to its geographical location, the metropolis is prone to earthquakes.

The cold zone, in which the capital of Colombia is located, is characterized by the transition of mountain forests to "" - high-mountain meadows. The banks of the river are overgrown with low semi-deciduous forest, thorny bushes and turf grasses. In the vicinity of Bogota there are jaguars, pumas, tapirs, armadillos, monkeys, porcupines, peccaries, sloths, opossums, and various species of reptiles. Crocodiles and turtles live in the rivers.

A little history

The city was founded in 1538 by a Spanish conquistador, historian, poet and prose writer Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada(Spanish: Jimenez de Quesada, 1500 - 1579), calling it Santa Fe de Bogotá (Spanish: Santafé de Bogotá), where "Santafé" literally means "holy faith" and "Bogotá" is a corruption of "Bacata" "("fertile land"). The Archbishop of Bogota, Luis Zapata de Cárdenas, declared Saint Isabella the patroness of the city in 1573. Before the introduction of Europeans, the culture of the Indians flourished here, one of their fortresses - “Bacata” (Spanish: Bacata) - became the basis of the future capital of Colombia.

As elsewhere in the possessions captured by the Spaniards, the Indians were evicted from their inhabited places, and in 1598 the city of Santa Fe de Bogota became the capital (Spanish: Nueva Granada), the Spanish viceroyalty in South America, which included the territory of the present Colombia. After the declaration of independence from Spain (1824), the city was renamed Bogota, by the end of the 19th century. it became the most important center of the revolutionary movement of fighters in Latin American countries.

Despite the favorable geographical location and political leadership, the development of the city was hampered for a long time by weak transport connections with other parts of the country, so by 1940 the local population had decreased to 300 thousand inhabitants. A series of civil wars 1942-1958. led to a massive relocation of residents from rural areas to the capital. By the end of the 20th century, Bogota became one of the largest cities in Latin America.

Bogota Attractions

Today's Bogota represents the quintessence of Colombia. It is a city of vibrant cultural life, stunning colonial architecture, state-of-the-art buildings and magnificent museums. At the same time, it is a city of eternal traffic jams, outlying slums, vagrants and drug dealers.

An amazing kaleidoscope of pomp and poverty, supercars and pack mules, modern office districts and poverty-stricken favelas makes Bogota one of the most contrasting and chaotic, indescribably charming and dangerous capitals on the planet.

This is a city with a complex and confusing network of narrow streets winding along the mountain slopes. In the old quarters there are many ancient churches and other architectural monuments of the 17th-19th centuries, and the new areas sparkle with the glass and metal of bank and office skyscrapers.

In the main square of Plaza Bolivar (Plaza de Bolivar, 1807-1823), there is a famous statue of the first president of the Republic of Colombia. The city center is also located here Cathedral(Catedral Primada, 1572-1610), with a statue of the Mother of God. The main Cathedral of Bogotá, rebuilt at the beginning of the 19th century and restored in 1998, contains the burial place of Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, the founder of the city, Antonio Nariño, hero of the liberation war, and the tomb of Gregorio Vazquez de Arce and Ceballos(Spanish: Gregorio Vsquez de Arce y Ceballos, 1638 - 1711), the most famous artist of the colonial era. To the south of the square is the Presidential Palace, in front of which every day at 17.00 a spectacular ceremony takes place - the changing of the guard of honor. The northern side of the square is framed by the grandiose building of the Palace of Justice, which, after the rebel storm in 1985, was restored and restored in 1999.

In the city center and in the adjacent oldest district of La Candelaria (Spanish: La Candelaria) there are ancient church buildings: San Francisco (Spanish: San Francisco, 1567), Santa Clara (17th-18th centuries). , now a museum), La Concepción (Spanish: La Concepción, XVIII century, today there is a repository of works of art), San Ignacio (Spanish: San Ignacio, XVII-XVIII centuries, the most richly decorated church in the country), La -Tersera (Spanish La Tercera, XVIII-XIX centuries), Nuestra Señora del Carmen(Spanish: Nuestra Senora del Carmen), La Candelaria (Spanish: La Candelaria) and San Diego (Spanish: San Diego).

Very colorful building Casa de Poesia Silva(Spanish: Casa de Poesia Silva), where today the Museum of Poetry is located, as well as Fundación Alzate Avendano(Spanish: Fundación Alzate Avendaño), Palacio de San Carlos(Spanish: Palacio de San Carlos), Casa del Marques de San Jorge(Spanish: Casa del Marques de SanJorge), library Luis Angel Arango(Spanish Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango), Catedral-Primada(Spanish Catedral Primada), Capilla del Sagrario(Spanish: Capilla delSagrario), Archbishop's Palace(Palacio Arzobispal built in the 12th-13th centuries), Palacio Echeverri (Spanish: Palacio Echeverri) and Palacio de Nariño(Spanish: Palacio de Narino) is the residence of the president of the state. The Nueva Santa Fe district (Spanish: Nueve de Santa Fe), located south of La Candelaria, is a striking example of late 20th century architecture. To the north of La Candelaria, near the intersection of Jimenez de Quesada and Carrera 7, are the Plaza de Santander and the University of Rosario. Rosario), one of the famous historical monuments of the city.

Opposite the Plaza de Santander, in the northeastern part of the Parque de Santander, is the Museum of Gold (Spanish: Museo del Oro), which enjoys well-deserved popularity: it is the only museum in the world entirely dedicated to works of art, with the richest collection of gold jewelry ( about 35 thousand exhibits) of pre-Columbian South American cultures, made by Indian craftsmen.

In general, in Bogota there are almost all the Museums of Colombia: National (with a rich exhibition introducing the history of the country), Archaeological, Arts and Folk Traditions, Traditional Art, Urban Development, Art of the Colonial Period, Anthropology, Religious Art, Maritime, Numismatics, Science and Technology, Museo de la Ciudad, House Museum, Museo del Sillo XIX with an impressive collection of jewelry and paintings. On the “hill of miracles” Cerro de Monserrate (Spanish: El cerro de Monserrate) rises the famous monastery of San Vincente (Spanish: El Monasterio de San Vicente, 17th century), which can be reached by serpentine stairs and by cable car.

The capital and economic center of Colombia is Bogota

At the Plaza de Santander you can listen to original street musicians, it is interesting to wander through the noisy Sunday flea market in Mercado de Las Pulgas (Spanish: Mercado de Las Pulgas), or through the emerald market (the intersection of Carrera 7 and Avenida Jimenez), although It’s better not to buy anything here, due to the large number of scammers. The city square Plaza de Toros de la Santamaria (Spanish: Plaza de Toros de la Santamaria) is a national monument of Colombia and is used for various musical events or traditional bullfights. By the way, the most important annual sporting spectacle in Bogota is bullfights, which attract from 150 to 200 thousand spectators.

In the El Salitre area there are many parks - the best places to relax in the capital: Unidad Deportiva El Salitre Park, water park, Palacio de Los Deportes los Deportes), "Children's Museum" Los Niños (Spanish: Los Niños) and Central Park. Simon Bolivar is the largest park complex in the capital.

The Jardin Botanico Jose Celestino Mutis Botanical Garden is home to more than 800 species of Colombian flora, including a variety of exotic plant species.

North of Calle-60 is the Usaquen district (Spanish: Usaquen), which is a small colorful village with cobblestone streets miraculously preserved among the modern quarters of the city.

Until recently, tourists bypassed the tenth road. Nowadays, the tourist infrastructure is actively developing here, and the police are carefully vigilant about maintaining public order. Nowadays, Bogota is known not only as the center of Colombia, but also as a city where there are many interesting and entertaining places connected both with the country’s colonial past and with modern times.

general characteristics

Until recently, tourists bypassed the capital by taking the tenth road. Nowadays, the tourist infrastructure is actively developing here, and the police are carefully vigilant about maintaining public order. Nowadays, Bogota is known not only as the center of Colombia, but also as a city where there are many interesting and entertaining places connected both with the country’s colonial past and with modern times.

general characteristics

On the world map, Santa de Fe Bogota (this was the name of the capital of Colombia until 2000) is located in the central part of the country, where the main concentration of economic and financial flows is noted. By the way, the capital’s GDP occupies a quarter of the total for the entire country.

Conventionally, the city is divided into 4 parts: south, north, center and El Occidente district. For a tourist, this information is extremely important, since the question directly depends on it. The authorities of the capital strongly recommend limiting visits to the southern part of Bogota, also known as the Bronx, as there are slums where chaos and lawlessness reign.

Bogota has a population of nearly 7 million people. A huge number of nationalities and races mixed together here. Most often you can find mestizos - descendants of mixed marriages between Indians and Europeans. If you are wondering what language the residents of Bogota speak, then the answer should at least make you wary. In the capital of Colombia, it is very rare to hear English spoken, and even rarer to find it understood. Spanish is recognized as the official language.

Is there a Russian quarter in Bogota? No, Russian culture here is limited to only a few restaurants with traditional cuisine. In addition, there is a Russian Embassy in Bogota, located at: st. Carrera, 4 No. 75-02.

Geographical features and climate

Bogota is located in the basin of the Eastern Cordillera, which significantly affects both its climate and the general landscape photos of the city. The capital is located at an altitude of 2600 m above sea level. Thanks to this geographical location, it never gets hot here. The average temperature all year round is +14…+15 °C, and the amount of precipitation does not exceed 900 mm per year.

Attractions

The description of Bogota as a tourist destination sounds promising, as there is definitely a lot to see among Colombia's capital. Almost all of them are concentrated in the tourist area of ​​La Candelaria, in close proximity to the historical part of the city. So, what should a tourist spend his time on first:

1. in Bogota. All tourist routes begin from here, since the square is surrounded by a number of buildings that correlate with the architectural monuments of Colombia: the National Capitol, the Palace of Justice, the Archbishop's Palace, etc. In addition, there is a monument to the first president, Simon Bolivar.
2. . It is located very close to Plaza Bolivar and there is a changing of the guard of honor every day at 17:00.
3. Cathedral of Bogota. It is made in the style of classicism, and its construction was carried out in the period from 1572 to 1610.
4. in Bogota. You can climb to its top (2800 m) in just a few minutes thanks to the monorail and cable car. At the destination, tourists can expect not only stunning views of the city, but also a number of sculptures on religious themes, telling the story of the last hours of the earthly life of Jesus Christ.
5. . This place is also known as the salt cave in Bogota. Once upon a time, salt mining was actively carried out here, and today there is a Catholic Cathedral of unique beauty.
6. in Bogota. It is famous for its unique exhibits, the origin of which dates back to the pre-Columbian era. Most of the exhibition is made of gold.
7. in Bogota. This is the tallest skyscraper in all of Colombia. On weekends there is an observation deck on the roof of the building.

Hotels

Bogota has a huge number of hotels that are suitable for both budget tourists and those who are accustomed to luxury and comfort. Most of them are concentrated in the La Candelaria area, which is considered safe for guests of the capital. The following hotels have good reviews: NH Collection Bogotá Royal Teleport, Hampton by Hilton Bogota Usaquen, Best Western Plus 93 Park Hotel, NH Royal Pavillon, NH Royal La Boheme. If you are interested in inexpensive accommodation options, then pay attention to Botanico Hostel, Republica Hostel Bogota, The Cranky Croc Hostel.

Restaurants

Since Bogota is a city where representatives of many nationalities live, there will be no problems with food here: a tourist can easily find an establishment with a menu that is familiar to them and affordable prices. Among the gourmet restaurants, it is worth noting Tamarine Asian Cuisine, Restaurante Rafael, Casa San Isidro. You can try it at Harry Sasson, Andres Carne de Res, Club Colombia. You can have a cheap and tasty meal in such establishments as La Puerta Falsa, Bukowski Bar, Quinua y Amaranto.

Shopping

All major shopping centers, boutiques and brand stores are located in the northern part of Bogota. However, it is worth noting that shopping in the capital of Colombia is not a cheap activity. You can purchase some souvenirs both at specialized points and at markets, where you can bargain and reduce the price for the product. Most often, tourists bring from Bogota silver and gold items, leather, jewelry made of precious stones, cigars and various types of coffee.

A trip to Bogota will not turn into trouble for you if you follow some rules of stay. In particular, limit your walks to tourist areas and designate slums as a no-go zone. In addition, do not keep large sums of money on you, and it is better to leave valuables in the hotel safe. Drinking raw tap water in Bogota can, at best, lead to an upset stomach. It is worth giving preference to bottled water, or, in extreme cases, boiled water.

In Bogota it is developed at the highest level, although it is represented only by buses. However, on the central streets of the city you can see tram rails. Only in 1952, during student unrest, all the trams were burned.

In Bogota, passenger transportation is provided by Bus Rapid Transit, a unique high-speed bus system. They move in a continuous stream along a dedicated lane and have priority at intersections. Most routes operate multi-section buses with a capacity of up to 270 passengers.

How to get to Bogota?

In the vicinity of the capital of Colombia there is, from where it is 20 minutes to Bogota. By the way, you can get there either by taxi or using free shuttles – green buses. True, they will only take you to the outskirts of the city, but there you can already purchase a contactless ticket card for buses of the Bus Rapid Transit system without any problems.