In the Pursuit of a Dream: BOGOTÁ: the Athens of South America

Current location: click here

It's time for me again to visit a large city, Bogotá. Colombia's capital is located at 2.600 meters above sea level. With more than 7 million inhäbitants, also the country largest city. Founded in 1538 by the spanish colonizers, it was later the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Granada until the independence from Spain and capital of the Republic of Gran Colombia until 1831.
Our tour guide said Bogotá is also called "the Athens of America" due to its large numbers of students in one of the many local universities and its many libraries; I would add "and traffic jams".

320 km separate Manizales from Bogotá. In Europe this would be a 2,5 hours drive, but not in Colombia. The bus left Manizales at 9am. It was a trouble less drive, but the geography, heavy trucks and construction work along the road made it very slow. At the end as we entered Bogotá we even run into Friday's rush hour traffic; it was 7:30 pm. Here some photos of the view from the bus.

And the historical center in an area also called La Candelaria. Bogotá's main square, Plaza Bolivar, is also the place where the Justice Palace is located.

A must see place in Bogotá is the gold museum or Museo de Oro.

The last photo is not part of the museum's collection but you can find it everywhere in Colombia. The country is in World Cup fever, more than Brazil I think.

Very close to the center of Bogotá is a mountain called Monserrate. It's a place where locals like to go on the weekends as it offers different walking paths, a market, restaurants and the Monserrate church. A cable car and a train are available for those who don't want to walk. The view is spectacular and you can see the whole city from the top.

During my stay in Bogotá we had a couple of days where my hostal and the street where it is located were converted into a TV set. They were filming "La fiesta del chivo" a novel from Mario Vargas Llosa that takes place in the Dominican Republic around 1940.