Bohumil city attractions and restaurants map. Bogota, Colombia – photos of Bogota, attractions, map, weather, tourist reviews. Walk through the center of Bogota

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 with a vibrant and rich cultural life, stunning colonial architecture, cutting-edge 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, super cars and pack mules, modern office districts and poor favelas makes Bogota one of the most contrasting and chaotic, indescribably charming and dangerous capitals of 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) - 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 for recreation 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.

To the 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.

The National Museum was opened in July 1823. It is one of the oldest city museums in Columbia and the oldest in all of America.

The museum is located in a former prison building. The building was designed by the Danish architect Thomas Reed.

It houses the richest collection of exhibits from all of pre-Hispanic Colombia and the Conquista era. For a detailed study of the history of the exhibits, several departments are equipped - ethnographic, natural history and others.

You can visit the museum throughout the week, even on Sunday. The price of admission is about 3 dollars.

Children's Museum

The children's museum is located in the green area of ​​Bogota and is designed to teach adults and children about the role of science, culture and technology in the modern world.

The museum building, located at the intersection of two busy highways, is surrounded by parks - El Salitre, Simon Bolivar and El Lago. The museum building was designed by architect Billy Goebertus, and the museum itself opened to the public in 1987.

The museum presents the following exhibitions: “Mechanics and Movement”, “Space”, “Oil”, “Optics and Perception”, “Coal” and others. Thus, in the “Mechanics and Motion” department, visitors can become familiar with the operating principles of acoustic, mechanical and hydrodynamic devices and see where these principles are used in everyday life. In the “Space” department you can observe the stars and constellations, in the “Oil” department you can understand how oil is processed and how wide the scope of its derivatives is in the modern world.

Of course, the museum is one of the most visited in the city, and, in addition, offers the opportunity to host a number of children's events within its walls.

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Natural History Museum

If you are not planning a visit to the wild, but want to know more about the animals, birds and insects of the Colombian jungle, visit the Museum of Natural History.

Here you can see all the living creatures of wild Colombia, from the smallest to the largest.

There is also a hall of dinosaur fossils. Here are bright, impressive collections of forest and water animals, birds from hummingbirds to condors. And what interesting tropical butterflies, dragonflies, beetles and spiders! All the diversity of the rich nature of Colombia and the surrounding regions can be seen in a relatively short time.

Artfully rendered panoramas show extinct animals in their natural surroundings.

The Fossil Hall is amazing because many of the skeletons there belong to sea creatures. Found in the land of Colombia, they prove that there was a sea here in ancient times.

The Natural History Museum is rightfully proud of one of two rare exhibits - a virtually intact 20-meter fossil of an aquatic reptile - Kronosaurus (the second is in Australia).

Kronosaurus was a fearsome predator of the southern polar seas 100-120 million years ago.

The museum is always full of schoolchildren and students.

The quarter around the Presidential Palace is guarded a little more seriously than the neighboring quarters: in some places there are blocks preventing the passage of cars, and when passing along the street towards the palace, the contents of passers-by are randomly checked for the contents of their bags.

In its present form, it was built in 1908, and in 1979 it underwent additional modifications and reconstruction.

An interesting fact is that the presidential palace was built on the site of the house where Antonio Nariño was born, a prominent political figure of the late 18th - early 19th centuries, who played a huge role in the liberation struggle against Spain and became a harbinger of the further independence of Colombia.

The President lives and works in the palace. On July 20, a colorful parade in honor of Independence Day takes place in front of the palace.

Caño Cristales River

The Caño Cristales River is located in the mountainous area of ​​central Colombia. Thanks to the abundance of colored algae, the waters of the river are filled with shades of red, yellow, black and blue, which is an amazingly beautiful sight.

Despite its small length and width, the river is considered the most beautiful and one of the most famous rivers in the world. Due to the rich color palette that can be seen in the river, local residents call it the “river of five colors.” You can see this natural wonder from June to November, and to get to it you must overcome a difficult path along hiking trails. Those who get to the river will be delighted by nature with a variety of colors, crystal clear, refreshing water and pristine nature.

Gold Museum

The Gold Museum, its original name "Museo del Oro", is located in the city of Bogota. It contains more than 26 thousand exhibits created by Indians in the pre-Columbian era.

The museum was created on the initiative of one of the Colombian banks in 1939. It is located in the historical district of "La Candelaria". Most of the museum's exhibits are made of gold, some of them are quite large. It contains both luxury items, for example, various beads, earrings, vases, and everyday items made of gold: cutlery, fishing tackle and others.

The last hall of the museum looks especially impressive; it contains about 12 thousand gold items; when the lights are turned on in the hall, it amazes with its splendor.

Catatumbo River

The Catatumbo River is located in northern South America. It starts in northeast Colombia, in Norte de Santander. In Venezuela, the river flows into Lake Maracaibo.

The area of ​​the Catatumbo River basin is 22,317 square kilometers, most of the river is in Colombia. The river has one large tributary - the Sulia River. The area where the Catatumbo River flows into Lake Maracaibo is dominated by wetlands. Oil is extracted and processed in the river basin.

The Catatumbo River is known for the oil and gas basin of Maracaibo and the atmospheric phenomena occurring above its mouth. Lightning over the Catatumbo River is a major generator of tropospheric ozone on our Earth. Indigenous people live along the river, they call them Bari.

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Meta River

Meta River is a river in Colombia. In the lower reaches it borders with Venezuela. The length of the river is more than 1000 kilometers, the basin area is 112,000 square kilometers.

The Meta River begins on the eastern slopes of the Eastern Cordillera. Further it extends across the plains of Llanos Orinoco, where the current is quite calm. Its channel is winding; occasionally there are islands overgrown with reeds. The nature on the coast of Meta is varied and beautiful.

The river is navigable, its main ports are Orocue and Puerto Carreño. The Meta River rises and becomes stormy during heavy rains and floods. There are interesting excursions along the river.

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More sights of Bogota

Santa Fe de Bogota (Santafé de Bogotá) or simply Bogota is the capital, economic and political center of the Republic of Colombia. It is also an important center for art and culture in northern South America.

General information

The capital of Colombia is located on the banks of the Rio San Francisco, in the intermountain basin of the Cordillera Oriental. In the vicinity of the capital, turf grasses, thorny bushes and semi-deciduous forest grow. Pumas, jaguars, possums, tapirs, monkeys, etc. live here. Turtles and crocodiles live in the rivers.

The population of the city and its suburbs in 2011 is more than 7.5 million people. This is approximately 1/6 of all Colombian residents. The population of Bogota is dominated by mestizos, the rest are purebred Indians, descendants of Europeans, mulattoes and blacks.

The city of Bogota was founded by Spanish conquistadors in 1538 in the center of the Chibra Indian civilization. The city was given the name Santa Fe de Bogota. The prefix Santa Fe is the name of the Catholic feast of the Transfiguration, celebrated on August 6th. It was on this day that the construction of the city began.

Since 1598, Bogota has been the capital of the Spanish captaincy general. From 1819 to the present day, the city has been the capital of independent Colombia. Today Bogota is a cosmopolitan city and one of the most important economic centers of the continent.

Weather in Bogota

Despite the fact that the Colombian capital is located almost on the equator, its climate is quite cool. This is explained by the city's location at a high altitude above sea level (2610 m). Due to its geographical location, Bogota is prone to frequent earthquakes.

The warmest month is March with air temperatures reaching 20 °C. The coldest month is January with an average temperature of 14 °C. The driest months are July, August, December and January. The rainiest periods in Bogota are from April to May and from September to November.

Transport Bogota

You can get from the airport to the center of the capital in 2 ways:

• By official taxi. The fare, as a rule, ranges from 15 to 25 thousand COP (9-14 USD).
• By bus, the parking lot is located next to the exit from the main terminal. The fare is 1200 COP (0.7 USD).

In addition to El Dorado, there are 2 more airports in the vicinity of the capital: an airport for private air travel - Guaymaral and a base for police and military aviation - Catam.

The main public transport in Bogota is the bus. There are 2 bus systems in the city:

• The traditional system includes: large Ejecutivo and Corriente buses, medium Buseta buses and Colectivo minibuses.
• The TransMilenio high-speed system, originally created to compensate for the lack of a metro. Ticket prices vary from 1400 to 1750 COP (0.8 - 1 USD).

The Colombian capital has a developed network of bicycle paths. Its length is 303 km. It is one of the largest bicycle networks in the world.

Districts of Bogota

Conventionally, the city is divided into 4 parts:

• The center is the historical part of the Colombian capital, where numerous attractions and the business district of the capital are located.
• The north is the modern part of the capital with colorful nightclubs, cafes, boutiques and large shopping centers.
• South - slum areas of Bogota.
• El Occidente is an elite part of the city, where the highest strata of the capital's society live. Parks and sports facilities are concentrated here.

In addition to the above, the Colombian capital officially consists of 20 districts. Among them the most interesting are:

La Candelaria is a tourist area with colonial buildings and beautiful churches.

• Chapinero is a modern area with office buildings, restaurants and shops.
• Teusaquillo is an area that attracts sports enthusiasts. There are museums, the capital's famous stadium and a botanical garden here.
• Macarena is a bohemian area with upscale restaurants and art galleries.
• Parque de la 93 is a trendy area with popular cafes and nightclubs.
• Usaquén is the central area where the main attractions of Bogota are concentrated.

The poorest and most crime-ridden areas of the capital are: Antonio Nariño, Barrios Unidos, Bosa, Los Mártires, Kennedy, Ciudad Bolívar, Suba, Tunjuelito, Sumapaz, Engativá, Puente Aranda, Fontibón and Rafael Uribe Uribe. The listed areas are not recommended for tourists to visit.

Sights of Bogota

The most popular attractions in Bogota

• Plaza Bolivar is the main square of the Colombian capital. There is a monument to the first president of the independent Republic of Colombia, Simon Bolivar, and a magnificent cathedral.
• The Presidential Palace, located south of Plaza Bolivar. Every day at 17:00 a colorful changing of the guard takes place near the palace, attracting many people.
• The Congress building, built in classical Greek style.
• Salt Cathedral, located 49 km from Bogota. It was completely carved out of salt rock. The height of the vaults is 23 m.
• The Church of the Holy Child is one of the most revered places in the capital. The temple is famous for the image of a gentle and smiling little Jesus in a pink tunic and with open arms.
• Toros la Santamaria Square, built in the Moorish style, where bullfighting and various musical events are held.
• Montserrate Hill (3100 m), which can be reached by cable car. From its top there is a stunning view of the capital. There is a restaurant serving international cuisine and several observation decks.
• Famous churches: La Candelaria, La Tercera, La Concepcion, San Francisco, San Ignacio and Santa Clara.
• Casa de Poesia Silva is a picturesque mansion that currently houses the Museum of Poetry.

Parks and gardens of Bogota

• Simon Bolivar Park is one of the largest parks in the world.
• A botanical garden with a wide variety of exotic plant species.
• Chicaque is a natural park located 20 km from the capital.

Museums of Bogota

• The Gold Museum, which houses works of art from the pre-Columbian era made by Indian craftsmen.
• The National Museum of Colombia, divided into 4 large departments: Art, History, Ethnography and Archaeology.
• Museum of Modern Art, which houses collections of graphics, photography and industrial design.
• Museum of Colonial Art, displaying important collections of Colombian art.
• The museum of the famous Colombian artist and sculptor Fernando Botero, which houses his own collections of paintings and sculptures, as well as 87 paintings by European artists.
• Ciencias Naturales is one of the 4 largest natural science museums in Latin America.

Holidays in Bogota

Throughout the year, the Colombian capital hosts numerous festivals and events. Among them, the most popular among city guests are:

• Temporada Taurina is a bullfight that takes place in January and February. At this time, famous bullfighters from Europe and Latin America come to Bogota.
• An annual rock festival that is known throughout the world as the largest such festival in the Spanish language.
• An annual jazz festival that takes place in September in Bogota's largest parks.
• The theater festival is one of the most important cultural events in the capital. It is held every 2 years during Easter week.
• Carnival de Bogotá is a traditional carnival held annually on August 6 to celebrate the founding of the city.

Bogota Restaurants

Colombian cuisine is distinguished by an abundance of sweets, meat dishes and savory side dishes. Among the popular dishes it is worth noting:

• Pandeja paisa is a traditional assortment of homemade sausage, meat, avocado and banana.
• Lechona is roasted suckling pig stuffed with vegetables and rice.
• Sobrebarriga - steak with rice, vegetables or stewed beans.
• Conejo-gausado-con-coconut - rabbit stewed in coconut milk.
• Mazamorro - meat soup with beans and vegetables.
• Ahiko is a soup made from poultry meat.
• Arroz con coco is rice cooked in coconut milk. It is usually served with dried or fresh fruit.

Bogota is home to a large number of fashionable restaurants and establishments serving local cuisine. Tips in restaurants and bars depend on the level and location of the establishment. As a rule, they are 10-15%.

The best restaurants in the Colombian capital:

• Matiz - restaurant serving Colombian, Pacific and Mediterranean cuisine
• Pimento Cucina Italiana is an elite Italian restaurant.
• Mini Mal is one of the most popular Colombian restaurants in Bogota.

Entertainment in Bogota

Places for family holidays in Bogota:

• Mundo Aventura is an amusement park for the whole family, located in the suburbs of Bogota. Among the interesting attractions: mini-safari, catapults, steam locomotives, electric cars and a huge Ferris wheel. In addition, a mini zoo, a botanical garden and an energy factory are open in the park.
• Zoologico de Santa Cruz is a large zoo located 56 km from the capital. It houses more than 500 different species of animals, including leopards, tigers, bears, squirrels, otters, etc.
• Diversity is a kind of mini-world for children. The Diversity amusement park has mini-banks, hospitals, shops, and also has its own transport system. Here children can learn everything about adult life. They can try themselves as a fireman, doctor, seller, etc. In addition, there is an area for parents in the park.

Shopping in Bogota

The most famous shopping centers in Bogota:

• Titan is the largest shopping center in Colombia.
• Santafé is the second largest shopping center in the country.
• Centro Mayor is the third largest shopping center in the country.
• Centro Andino is a shopping center with exclusive and expensive shops.

Among the traditional souvenirs of the capital, it is worth noting items made of gold or silver, jewelry with emeralds, ritual masks, pottery, musical folk instruments, cigars and Colombian coffee.

Bogota Hotels

The second most populous city in South America, Bogota, attracts many visitors with its energy, color, diversity of cultures, beautiful buildings and unforgettable entertainment. On the one hand, Bogota is a city of colonial architecture, harmoniously combined with futuristic buildings, parks and various museums. On the other hand, the Colombian capital is a city of eternal traffic jams, slums and drug dealers.

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, fortunately they are beautiful 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 some homeless-looking demonstrators have pitched their tents around it.

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.

The best way to start your acquaintance with Bogota is with a leisurely walk through its central area. It is here that the oldest square in the city is located - Plaza Bolivar, founded at the beginning of the distant nineteenth century. In the very center of this square you will see a monument erected to the very first president of this country. To this day, it is on this square that all the main holidays and the most important social events take place.

Nearby you will see the ancient Cathedral Church, which is much older than the square itself, since it was built at the beginning of the seventeenth century. At the end of the twentieth century, this cathedral underwent a complete reconstruction and today shines in all its glory before parishioners and numerous tourists. There are several graves near the church, which are regularly visited by excursions, since several famous political figures and several very popular artists are buried here.

Just walk away from the square for just a few minutes and you will see the beautiful building of the Presidential Palace, usually by 5 p.m. - by the time the changing of the guard occurs, a large number of spectators gather here. If you go north from the square, you can reach the Palace of Justice. Of course, during the hostilities the building suffered quite a lot, but nevertheless the efforts of modern architects bore fruit and it was successfully restored.

In the central area of ​​Bogota, it is also worth spending your time and attention visiting the beautiful ancient churches - Santa Clara, San Francisco, La Concepción, La Tercera, San Ignacio, Nuestra Señora del Carmen and La Candelaria. Also, don’t forget to admire the city’s many beautiful old buildings, among which the colorful Casa de Poesia Silva stands out. It is not only built in national traditions and made in elegant architectural forms, but inside all the rooms are decorated in the most luxurious way. Now this building houses the Museum of Poetry.
l-Arango, which today houses the oldest library in the city. The Nueva Santa Fe quarter is rightfully considered the second most popular excursion site in Bogota. Here you should definitely visit the Plaza de Satander, where you can not only buy cute souvenirs as a souvenir, but also watch the daily performances of street musicians.

The square looks very nice surrounded by beautiful old mansions, the most famous of which is the most famous architectural monument of the area - the University of Rosario. If you are an art lover at heart, then you should visit the Museo de Arte Moderno with its beautiful collection of art objects, the richest in the country. Literally every exhibit in this museum, be it a figurine or an elegant sculpture, a painting or a tapestry of marvelous beauty, an antique vase or decoration - all these items are unique historical artifacts.

Don’t forget also about the most interesting natural sites of Bogota, the El Salitre area is especially famous for them. It is there that the largest number of reserves and natural parks in the city are located. It is also worth visiting the most famous and popular botanical garden in the city, Hardin Botanico. There is an extensive collection of exotic flowers and plants, and you can also admire the masterful design of the landscape, where literally every flower bed is a real work of art.

For shopping, it is best to go to the pedestrian area of ​​Carrera 15, where there are a whole host of colorful shopping centers, small souvenir shops and boutiques, as well as many famous restaurants and cafes in the city. On Carrera Street 7, it is worth visiting the emerald market, but you should not shop here unless you are very well versed in these precious stones, so as not to run into a fake.