In this post I write about a very nice neighbourhood of Bogota: La Candelaria. It is in the historical centre of the Colombian capital. It is very well kept, with its constructions of the XIX century and the beginning of the XX century and the main historical buildings.
The cathedral is located in the Bolivar’s square. The city was founded around this square, so it can be said that is the oldest part of Bogota, and nowadays is the main square. The cathedral is a very fine example of the late colonial architecture of Latin America. It was built at the beginning of the XIX century. And it is one of the main touristic attraction. As it can be seen in the photo is a place were many tourist take a snapshot with a llama
This panoramic photo, shows the cathedral with its neighboring buildings. Next is The Sacred Chapel whose construction dates back to the XVII century and at the right of the image there is the Archbishop Palace. This building is from the 50’s of last century.
In this neighbourhood there are many churches, one of them is La Iglesia de la Candelaria, with this distinguished yellow colour. However this colour is relatively recent, originally it was painted white. It was built at the end of the XVII century and it shows a typical colonial style.
This photo shows other jewel of the colonial architecture is an internal courtyard of one of the old palaces.
There are also many street vendors in this neighborhood, as it can be seen in this photo. The lady in this kiosk not only sells snacks, but also rents celular phones, they are charged by the length of the calls. This is quite common in many countries of Latin America.
This neighborhood it has become quite fashionable, and many of the old houses are shops, restaurants, etc. Their façades are decorated with graffitis painted with very vivid colours.
You can get there traditional Colombian sweets, either on shops or street vendors as it is shown in these images.
I hope that you enjoyed and found interesting this post.
I took these photos using a Sony DSC-R1 and an iPhone 4.