Presidential Palace (Palacio de Gobierno) Lima

While en route to Lima, cruising down the Panamerican Highway, we hugged the coast so tightly and the views were amazing! We arrived in Lima in the early evening and planned to stay in the district of Miraflores.



One of the things I love most about traveling is being removed from American restaurant chains, big shopping malls …

The flight went really quickly, helped by the films they had for us to watch. We both saw The Dark Knight Rises after having a sleep and then we rolled into Lima. Immigration was pretty quick too, and who should be on the other side in the arrivals area? None other than Stacey Stokes! YAY! In Peru for one week only... We all piled into a taxi and …

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Nach turbulenten 2 letzten Wochen ging es am Donnerstag für meinen Backpack und mich auf die Reise auf die andere Seite der Welt.

Pünktlich in Frankfurt gestartet landete ich 10 Stunden später in der Dominikanischen Republik. Glücklicherweise einen Platz am Notausgang bekommen. In Der DomRep durften wir dann alle einmal aussteigen, …

Arrived in Lima with my two Irish friends in-tow at Hostel Pariwana, handily located within spitting distance of all the nightclubs, casinos, bars, KFCs, Pizza Huts and McDonalds. Stu´s first words on arriving at our hostel were..."I think I´m going to like Lima." Actually I think that turned out to a bit of an understatment in the end!

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Day 1 - Friday 7th September

We arrived very early in the morning in Lima at 5am! Our bags took ages to come but when they finally arrived we left the airport at 6.30 and arrived at our hotel at 7am.

We were quite awake but tired from our night flight (it is -6 hrs gmt here) so we had a shower, some breakfast and went for a walk …

Yes fairy tale fans, after 17 years of boring everyone to tears banging on about it, various get rich quick schemes to save up enough for it, and two months of leaving do's, I've finally made it here to get on the gringo trail woooo hooooo!

First stop Lima, Peru and Condors House Hostel in Miraflores, where we were greeted by a table of …

I´m staying in Miraflores off of Av Arequipa. It was a loud street but it was an easy walk to the heart of Miraflores and cheeeeeeeap! Also, the people working there were very helpful. I'm sure I could have found a better place but it was a last minute selection (made it 72 hours before my arrival) and I'm not that picky.

Here`s what I`ve …

We just got back from the city tour. We got picked up around 2 PM and drove to a park relatively close to Larcomar. It's called the Lovers Park. We walked around a bit and took pictures. There were a lot of people hang gliding near by.

Then we drove quite a bit to Plaza Mayor. On the way we saw a few important buildings like the court …

Started the day still trying to find my iPhone. Not having means I need to carry the Nikon everywhere which I hoped not to do. Took a tour bus around the city. Was a 3 hour tour that due to traffic went 5 hours. City is very different from Western SA. Buildings are smaller, older and without any distinguishing qualities. Also the Peruvian people …

... Pizarro back in 1560´s. Still at the downtown area, lots of colonial buildings are still present. The Cathedral, Presidential palace are especially beautiful. I walked to the San francisco Monastery to see the Catacomb and some colonial architectures. ...

... ; We then went to the Plaza de Almas, Lima’s central square and home to all its’ most important buildings (Presidential Palace, Municipal Building etc) – many of these were built on Incan temples and mansions and they are all painted a ...

...  the driver when to brake or accelerate. We made it, alive, to check out the two main plaza's and the presidential palace. Next it was off to the Church of St Francis. We were here to see the catacombs below. Beneath the church ...

... the main square in the city centre. At 12 noon there´s the changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace which includes a brass band and lots of flighty soldier´s legs. Also worth a mention are La Basilica Cathedral de ...

... , exceedingly. Romča has slightly different opinion, but however, we both agree,  that Lima has a beautiful square with a stunning cathedral and presidential palace, where the change of guards takes place every day at noon. Who would expect a ...

... . It's a lovely church, under which run extensive catacombs. We walk the few bocks to the Plaza de Armas to see the Presidential Palace and Cathedral. We are only on a fleeting visit, so we don't enter. Nevertheless we notice the strong presence of riot ...

... Most other buildings around the plaza have republican era balconies. More glass. More sophistication. Then, of course, there is the Presidential Palace. Very different from a royal palace. He's elected, after all. As an aside, I was arguing with someone ...

... very miserable. We spent the next day wandering around the old town and watching the changing of the guards outside the presidential palace. We also visited the Franciscan monestary which has catacombs holding the bones of 70,000 residents of Lima. The ...

... good and today we've wandered around Lima. We've seen most of the sights including changing of the guard at the presidential palace, the cathedral, some nicely arranged bones in the catacombs (v Indiana Jones) and a dog with sunglasses on! Flying to ...

... wasn't a whole lot I still wanted to see in Quito but I did want to take the tour of El Palacio de Gobierno (Presidential Palace). I got a taxi to the Old Town but found out that the Palace tour times quoted in Lonely Planet were for Spanish tours. ...