Colombia - The Rough Guide to South America on a Budget - page 493

5 A WORD ON GETTING AROUND

Getting around Bogotá - and all Colombian cities for that matter - is facilitated by a foolproof
numbering system , derived from the original Spanish grid layout, which makes finding
an address virtually arithmetic. The names of the streets indicate their direction: calles
(abbreviated C) run at right angles to the hills, from east to west, while carreras (abbreviated
Cra) run from north to south. Addresses are a function of both, with the prefix indicating
the cross street. For example, the address Cra 73 No. 12-20 can be found on Carrera 73 at
number 20, between calles 12 and 12B. To make matters a little confusing, in La Candelaria,
C 13 doesn't follow C 12; there are streets labelled 12 A-12 D in between.

WHAT TO SEE AND DO
The city's historic centre, La Candelaria ,
is full of colourfully painted colonial
residences. It begins at Plaza de Bolívar
and stretches northward to Avenida
Jiménez de Quesada, and is bordered
by Cra 10 to the west and the mountains
to the east. Downtown Bogotá is the
commercial centre, with office buildings
and several museums, while North
Bogotá , a catch-all term for the wealthier
neighbourhoods to the north of the
centre, offers stylish shopping districts
and enough dining options to suit most
palates and wallets.

(Bogotá natives). The Septimazo , as it is
called, is people-watching at its best.

Catedral
Looming over the Plaza de Bolívar,
Bogotá's Neoclassical Catedral (Tues-Sun
9am-5pm; free; W catedraldebogota.org)
allegedly stands on the site where the first
Mass was celebrated in 1538. Rebuilt
over the centuries after several collapses,
it was completed in 1823, and while its
interior is gold-laced, it's still relatively
austere compared to the capital's other
churches. You'll find the tomb of Jiménez
de Quesada, Bogotá's founder, in the
largest chapel.

Plaza de Bolívar
The heart of La Candelaria is the
Plaza de Bolívar , awhirl with street
vendors, llamas, pigeons and visitors;
in the evenings, street-food carts set up
shop by the cathedral. A pigeon-defiled
statue of El Libertadór himself stands
in the centre of the square, surrounded
by monumental buildings in disparate
architectural styles spanning more than
four centuries, most covered with
political graffiti.
On the west side of the cathedral stands
the Neoclassical Capitol , where the
Congress meets, with its imposing,
colonnaded stone facade. On the plaza's
north side is the modern Palacio de
Justicia , which was reconstructed in 1999
after the original was damaged during
the army's much-criticized storming of
the building in 1985, in response to the
M-19 guerrilla takeover, with more than
a hundred people killed in the raid.
Every Friday from 5pm, Cra 7 is closed
to traffic from Plaza de Bolívar all the
way to C 26, and the streets fill with
performers, food vendors and cachacos

Casa de Nariño
A couple of blocks south of Plaza de
Bolívar, between Cra 7 and 8, is the
heavily fortified presidential palace and
compound, Casa de Nariño ( W www
.presidencia.gov.co), done in the style of
Versailles. This is where President Santos
currently lives and works. To take part in
a guided visit (3-6 visits daily), book
online - look for “Visitas Casa de
Nariño” on the website. It's also possible
to watch the ceremonial changing of the
guard three times a week (Wed, Fri &
Sun at 4pm) - best viewed from the east
side of the palace.

Museo Botero
Housed in a fine colonial mansion
surrounding a lush courtyard, the
Museo Botero (C 11 No. 4-41; Mon-Sat
9am-7pm, Sun 10am-5pm; free;
W banrepcultural.org/museo-botero)
contains one of Latin America's largest
collections of modern and Impressionist
art, donated in 2000 by Colombia's most
celebrated artist, Fernando Botero. There