Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
9
and one of the country's most
extraordinary natural sights. Further
north, the remote Cotahuasi Canyon
offers even more remote and challenging
treks for those with plenty of time.
Around 120km west of Arequipa,
you can see the amazing petroglyphs of
Toro Muerto , perhaps continuing on to
hike amid the craters and cones of the
Valley of the Volcanoes .
can also enter the fine Jesuit Cloisters ,
their pillars supporting stone arches
covered with intricate reliefs showing
more angels, local fruits and vegetables,
seashells and stylized puma heads.
Other churches
Other notable churches within a few
blocks of the Plaza include Santo Domingo
(Mon-Sat 6-9am & 3-7.45pm, Sun
5.30am-1pm; free), two blocks east of La
Compañía, built in 1553 by Gaspar Vaez,
with the oldest surviving Mestizo-style
facade in the city; and the imposing Iglesia
de San Francisco (Mon-Fri 10am-noon &
3-5pm; free), at the top of its namesake
street, built in the sixteenth century and
featuring an unusual brick entranceway.
WHAT TO SEE AND DO
The city centre is compact and walkable,
spreading out in a grid shape from the
Plaza de Armas. Arequipa's architectural
beauty comes mainly from the colonial
period, characterized here by white sillar
stone, which gives the city the name
“Ciudad Blanca” (“White City”). Of
the huge number of religious buildings
spread about the old colonial centre, the
Monastery of Santa Catalina is the most
outstanding. Within a few blocks of the
Plaza de Armas are half a dozen churches
that merit a brief visit, and a couple of
superb old mansions. You can walk to
the attractive suburb of Yanahuara ,
renowned for its dramatic views of the
valley with the volcanoes.
Monasterio de Santa Catalina
Just two blocks north of the Plaza de
Armas, the Monasterio de Santa Catalina
(daily 8am-5pm, Tues & Thurs until 8pm;
S35, multilingual guides available for S20)
is the most important and prestigious
religious building in Peru - a citadel within
a city - and its enormous complex of
rooms, cloisters, streets and tiny plazas is
perfect to explore at a leisurely pace.
The monastery was founded in 1580 by
the wealthy María de Guzmán, and its
vast protective walls once sheltered almost
two hundred secluded nuns - daughters
of wealthy Spanish families - and three
hundred servants until it opened to the
public in 1970. Some thirty nuns still live
here today; though restricted to their own
quarter, they are no longer completely
shut off from the world.
The most striking feature of the
architecture is its predominantly Mudéjar
style, adapted by the Spanish from the
Moors, and the quality of the design is
emphasized and harmonized by a superb
interplay between the strong sunlight,
white stone and brilliant colours in the
ceilings and in the deep blue sky above
the maze of narrow streets.
The Plaza de Armas and Catedral
he Plaza de Armas , one of South
America's grandest, comprises a particularly
striking array of colonial architecture,
dotted with palms, flowers and gardens.
It is dominated by the arcades and elegant
white facade of the seventeenth-century
Catedral (Mon-Sat 7-10am & 5-7pm,
Sun 9am-1pm; free), which has one of the
largest organs in South America, imported
from Belgium. Note the serpent-tailed
devil supporting the wooden pulpit.
Iglesia de la Compañía
On the southeast corner of the plaza lies
the elaborate Iglesia de la Compañía
(Mon-Sat 9am-12.30pm & 3-6pm,
Sun 9.30am-12.30pm & 3-6pm; free),
founded in 1573 and rebuilt in 1650,
with its magnificently sculpted doorway,
and a locally inspired Mestizo-Baroque
relief. Inside the former sacristy, the
cupola depicts jungle imagery alongside
warriors, angels and the Evangelists. You
Monasterio de La Recoleta
Over the Río Chili, a ten-minute walk
west from the Plaza de Armas, is the large
Franciscan Monasterio de La Recoleta
(Mon-Sat 9am-noon & 3-5pm; S10),
 
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