MANIZALES: in the land of coffee

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Coffee! one of the most popular drinks in the world.  About 7 million metric tons were produced last year world wide, with Brasil and Vietnam as the two major producers. Depending on the coffee type Colombia comes next, and has being very successful creating the Juan Valdez brand.
Manizales is the capital of the  Departamento de Caldas in Colombia, and is considered the center of the country's  coffee production region. It's spring-like weather and the inviting coffee haciendas around the city makes it a nice place to visit.

Manizales is a young city, founded in 1849, after Colombia's independence war by antioquians that came to colonize the region.

To learn more about Colombia's coffee it's necessary to go to a farm. In this case it is Hacienda Venecia, a 300 ha. farm a few kilometers outside Manizales.

Next to the coffee production business, the farm runs a training center for smaller farmers and a hostal for students and, becoming more important, visitors.

The city of Manizales has a strange geography. It's center is located at the upper part of a long hill separating two valleys. It's main street runs along the ridge, with all crossing streets going downhill left and right of the main street. The view must be spectacular; unfortunately for me it was cloudy and rainy during my stay and I could only imagine how it normally looks.

As summary I would say Manizales is one of this small cities were you can stay for a few days to relax without getting boared. A place to come back.