La Candelaria – Vibrant Heart of Bogota

It was getting close to lunchtime as we headed toward the Candelaria neighborhood.  La Candelaria, the oldest part of Bogota, is an eclectic combination of the old and new, historic and modern. The buildings are typical of Spanish colonial architecture while the streets have some unique graffiti murals. Here you will also find the Botero Museum, one of Bogota’s most famous art museums.  Learn more about Botero later.  Another noteworthy building here is the Gold Museum, one of Colombia’s most impressive museums. We toured the museum the next day and were very much impressed.  Plaza Bolivar is the main square in the middle of La Candelaria and is the center of some of the city’s most important buildings and offices.

After a leisurely stroll through the colorful winding streets, we ended up at the Prudencia, a restaurant run by a Colombian-American husband and wife team. The striking setting of canopy and steel provided the perfect ambiance for a delicious meal made from local ingredients with the added touch of a wood-fired flair.  What an enjoyable meal we had!  For me, it was the best of the trip.

We took a break and had a look upstairs where they grew some of their own herbs. Then I discovered their wood-burning stove and took a picture of the wonderful homemade bread.

And finally dessert-

The lunch was long and leisurely and that is the Colombian dining style for the mid-day meal.  We finally made our way back up the narrow streets and stopped to look at craft shops along the way.

As we moved out of this area, it started to rain, Shawn and I had our raingear but we also had to try to keep our cameras dry.  The guides had umbrellas, but all in all, it was a very wet walk and it seemed to go on forever.  We had a car but I guess it was difficult to drive where we were headed.  My raincoat was more of a wet coat and I thought we were never going to stop walking.  We finally ducked into a small cafe and got something hot to drink.  We finished our drinks and continued on to find the Artesanias of Colombia shop.  Still raining, we went to the wrong door and then had to walk a long way around to find the right entrance. More about our rainy day tour in the next chapter.