Peru - The Rough Guide to South America on a Budget - page 721

which to explore the rest of the country.
Ignore Lima's grey and polluted facade,
ride the combis and get stuck in - no visit
to Peru is complete without time well
spent in Lima.

palace was destroyed by an earthquake). It's
possible to arrange a free tour, on Saturdays
only, although this can take a few days to
sort out (contact the Jefatura de Turismo,
English spoken, on T 01 311 3900
extension 523; E scuadros@presidencia
.gob.pe). he changing of the guard takes
place outside (daily 11.45am & 5.45pm),
which always draws a crowd to watch the
marching soldiers and listen to the military
brass band.

9

WHAT TO SEE AND DO
Lima is very much a city of
neighbourhoods, and it's worth visiting
several before making up your mind
about this huge capital. You can't beat
Central Lima for sights or architecture.
San Isidro and neighbouring Miraflores
are certainly the most modern and
commercial areas of the city and you'll
find many designer stores, gourmet
restaurants and sophisticated lounge bars
here, as well as some of the best tourist
attractions and nightlife. Arty and
colourful Barranco feels like a sleepy
seaside town by day, and is fantastic
for escaping the chaos of central Lima,
but at night comes alive and is packed
with bars and clubs.

Museo de la Iglesia y Convento
San Francisco
East of the Palacio del Gobierno along
Jr. Ancash is the majestic Museo de la
Iglesia y Convento San Francisco (daily
9.30am-5.30pm; S7 for 40min guided
tour; T 01 426 7377, W museocatacumbas
.com). The ticket combines seeing the
large seventeenth-century church and its
attached monastery , which contains a
superb library, a room of paintings by
(or finished by) Rubens, Jordaens and
Van Dyck, some pretty cloisters and
the main highlight: vast crypts with
gruesome catacombs , which contain
the skeletons of some seventy thousand
people - well worth a visit.

The Plaza Mayor
Lima's main square, known as the
Plaza Mayor or the Plaza de Armas,
boasts UNESCO World Heritage status
due to its former colonial importance
- Lima was capital of the Spanish Empire
in South America - and its colours and
famous wooden balconies are kept in
beautiful condition accordingly. It is one
of the largest squares in South America
and has some of the most important
government and religious buildings
in Peru.
On the eastern corner of the plaza
stands the austere Renaissance-style
Catedral (open for Mass Sat 9am &
Sun 11am). The interior retains some of
its appealing Churrigueresque (highly
elaborate Baroque) decor and it houses
the Museo de Arte Religioso (Mon-Fri
9am-5pm & Sat 10am-1pm; S10;
T

Museo de la Inquisición
A couple of blocks southeast of San
Francisco, the Museo de la Inquisición y
del Congreso , at Jr. Junín 548 (daily
9am-5pm; free, by regular guided tours
only, available in English; T 01 311 7777,
W

www.congreso.gob.pe/museo.htm),
was the headquarters of the Inquisition
for the whole of Spanish America from
1570 until 1820. The museum includes
the original tribunal room, with its
beautifully carved mahogany ceiling, and
beneath the building you can look round
the dungeons and torture chambers,
which contain a few gory, life-sized
human models.

01 427 9647), which contains paintings
from the seventeenth century as well as
the remains of Francisco Pizarro.
he original Palacio del Gobierno was
built on the site of Pizarro's adobe house,
where he spent the last few years of his life
until his assassination in 1541. The present
building was only built in 1938 (the older

Mercado Central and Chinatown
Walk south on Avenida Abancay from the
Museo de la Inquisición, take a left on
Ucayali and after a couple of blocks you'll
see the fascinating Mercado Central on
your left, where you can buy almost
anything (keeping one eye open for