Peru day 15 - Lima day 4

 Lima day 4

Plaza Mayor in Lima

Today we booked a city and catacombs tour in the historic area. and we got out of Barranco and Miraflores area of Lima.  

The meet point Hotel Bolivia

We met the tour at Hotel Bolivia and it has an old bar, a 1920 ford car and the oldest elevator in town. 

The bar in Hotel Bolivia with the pisco sours bottles 

The 1920 Ford car

The historic center is beautiful and Arianna our guide told us a few things about the city. 

The historic center sights

Bus services has their dedicated lanes and is the easiest to get around but it still has a long line to get on the bus. 

The gray city bus in Lima

The black and white sign means the building is protected and a lot of buildings in the city center can't have 2nd and 3rd floor occupied as it's too unstable

They have 9 presidents since 2016 and it's highly unstable politically. 

Beautiful church along the route

We visited the St Francisco monks church and catacombs and learned some interesting facts.

The Jesuits church with moorish influence

The monks took money from the people to bury their money in the church.. Then every 5 years they removed the body and put them in a mass grave hence creating the catacombs. 

The catacombs with original Seville Spanish tiles and a beautiful library and last supper

The cathedral at Plaza Mayor is built on top of a Inca temple and the only stone piece is found at the side of the plaza. And Francisco statue is found behind it. 

The cathedral built on top of the Inca temple

 

Francisco statue

There's a post office building repurposed into a gastronimique center but was closed as the building is unstable. 

Unstable post office building

Walking further down, we were able to see a church with 2 relics 

Church with 2 skulls as relics

Last stop of pisco tasting but too tourist trap!

We got a ride to Lacorma in the tour bus as it felt very chaotic and we were glad to get out of Lima historic center quickly and back to Miraflores. 

Ice cream before going back to the hotel

Had a rest at the hotel before heading out to Carnaval which is the 43rd bar in the world. 

Carnaval for cocktails on the last night

I wanted to see a neighborhood that's not Miraflores or Barranco.  The San Ysidro area seems interesting and it would be a good choice for next time if we visit Lima again. 

Carnaval interior 

Carneval menu

We had the Carnaval experience picking 3 cocktails and then had their signature cocktail too which has beautiful presentation. 

Carneval Experience

Carnavel cocktail

Today is the last day of our trip. I started this journey not knowing anything about Peru and I'm leaving with more knowledge of the country

I felt privileged to learn about Peru and the Andean culture from our guides in this trip. 

It felt like a life time going through all of this 2 weeks with so many different experiences and having such a good trip.