Friday, October 31, 2014

Bogota-Colombia's Vibrant Capital






Arriving at the vibrant capital of Colombia leaves you virtually breathless.
The city is situated at about 2700m above sea level and boy - you gasp for oxygen when you arrive.
The local advice to avoid altitude sickness is "Caminar despacito, comer poquito y dormer solito" which means "walk slowly, eat little and sleep alone"
We took the advice, rested a bit after our arrival and then plunged ourselves fully into discovering Bogota.
Traffic is chaotic and sometimes it seems that all of the over 7 million inhabitants of Bogota agree at driving their cars all at the same time in the same street-then you have what people refer to as a "trancon" or traffic jam.
The climate is quite unpredictable and most days you have all 4 stations in one day which means radiant sunshine in the morning, heavy rain or thunder storm at midday and variations of the former in the afternoon.
The cultural life of the city is amazing: Gorgeous museums (the newest addition is the Fernando Botero Museum), theatre, live  music peformances from classic to Cumbia and Vallenato and the extraordinary puppet theatre of Jaime Manzur which features from the month of November on the Nutcracker and other classic master pieces.
Colombians have a reputation of being very friendly, well-educated and speaking a beautiful Spanish.
They continue to battle against the image of drug and crime problems of their country which certainly exist, but there are as well the millions of ordinary Colombians who work hard for their living and live a decent life.
We had a wonderful time rediscovering this exciting country, visiting Bogota and the beautiful Caribbean town of Cartagena de Indias.



A recreation spot near down town.  



Bell tower of the Cathedral of Santa Fe de Bogotá

Writing on the wall: Remembering Colombian literature Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whom Colombians called affectionously "Gabo"

The newest addition to Bogota's cultural life : Gorgeous museo Botero

Mona Lisa with a twist as seen by maestro Botero

The museum is situated in an old colonial style house with a beautiful patio

The "al agua patos" café where we enjoyed a delicious brunch

And nice ambience

Best tropical fruit granola I ever tried

Amazing sandwhiches - this one with a Mediterranean flavour

The classical versión with ham and eggs

Local flavor with shredded meat and tasty onions

A colorful small house cheering up a rainy day


Visting the studio of our dear friend maestro Armando Villegas,a great Peruvian- Colombian painter who recently passed away

Live music show at a restaurant owned by the King of Cumbia and Vallenato music and Grammy award winner Carlos Vives

A sign at the entrance that reminds you to better not bring your personal weapons with you :)

"The "place to be for the young,rich and beautiful- Harry's Sasson, listed among the 50 best restaurants in Latinamerica.

A more traditional ambiance for private dinners

The open kitchen

And the stylish bar

Street musicians at a fleamarket in Santa Barbara




Thank you for joining me at this visit to Bogota, see you soon. 


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76 comments:

  1. I love your adventures! Your photos are great and the sights amazing. Love that chubby Mona Lisa - haha - safe travels!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Tricia,
      Thanks for your great feedback and for accompanying me on this adventurous trip!

      Delete
  2. What a lovely place! I know just what high altitude feels like. You do need to adjust first. Lovely photos and the culture, food and night light look amazing.

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    1. Thank you Susan!
      It actually has taken us a few days to feel fit in altitude, but we still enjoyed a lot.

      Delete
  3. Bogota looks amazing, I want to go now...and eat there. I had altitude sickness too in Cuzco!

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    1. Oh Cuzco, so beautiful but I only survived the altitude sipping Coca tea all the time.
      Have a great weekend, Evelyne!

      Delete
  4. Hi Daniela, thank you for the beautiful tour, Bogota sound amazing and interesting. Excellent click and beautiful scenery.The fruits granola look so refreshing and appetizing, that's a good one.

    Enjoy your holiday, hugs to you. Have a wonderful weekend, regards.

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    1. Hi Amelia,
      Thank you for coming along with me on this amazing trip.
      I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed the tour.
      Have a great weekend, hugs!

      Delete
  5. Excellent tour and pictures! Liked the chubby Mona Lisa !

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  6. Looks like a fantastic city. I love the Mona Lisa with a twist!

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  7. Looks like you are having a lovely time! The food looks delicious, and I am so happy you got to the Botero Museum. I love his work - so joyful and full of life! ~ David

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    1. Hi David,
      I'm a huge admirer of Botero too.
      His work is fantastic and with a great sense of humor as well.
      Cheers.

      Delete
  8. I'd love to visit the Botero Museum.

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  9. Bogota is such a beautiful city. The food looks really delicious too. Thanks for the tour, Daniel.

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    1. Hi Angie,
      So glad to hear that you enjoyed the tour !

      Delete
  10. Hi Daniela, looks like you have a wonderful time in Bogota, will be adding this place to my to-travel list! The mona lisa twist is so cute!

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    1. Hi Jaseline,
      Pls. let me know in case you visit, maybe I can give you some specific tips that could be interesting for you.
      Have a great week!

      Delete
  11. Liebe Daniela, vielen Dank für all die tollen Bilder - sieht aus, als ob es euch in Kolumbien richtig gut gefällt! Es gibt dort so viele herrliche Ding zu bestaunen und so viel wunderbares Essen zu genießen! Ich bin ganz hin und weg!
    Ganz liebe Grüsse aus dem vergleichsweise "uneventful" Städtchen Bonn,
    Andrea

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    1. Liebe Andrea,
      Freu' mich sehr, daß Dir die Tour in Bogotá gefallen hat, es ist wirklich eine interessante Stadt.
      Wollte Dir aber auch sagen daß mir Bonn sehr gut gefällt. Klein aber fein und mit viel Atmosphäre :)
      Liebe Grüße
      Deine Daniela

      Delete
  12. This is my favourite kind of post - the one that features both food and travel! Colombia is on my list of countries that I'd love to visit someday. I know a bit more about Cartagena, but you've really made Bogota come alive for me. Great post, great photos!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Beth,
      so true,to discover both, sights and food of a place opens the appetite twice:)
      Thank you so much for your kind feedback.
      "See" you soon in Cartagena.

      Delete
  13. A wonderful post. A few years ago I attended an exhibit of Botero's work. Years ago 60 Minutes did a piece on him, so when i saw he was at a museum that was close to us we went. It was wonderful. I could not believe how extensive it was. I took photos, but for some reason I put the camera on a wrong setting and came away with nothing. I am still complaining about it. If anyone gets a chance to go please go. Oh, and if you feel like you have a few extra pounds on you, you will feel thin when you leave. :)

    Madonna

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    1. Hi Madonna,
      Glad to hear that you enjoyed the tour.
      Botero is a geniuos and I appreciate his work even more after the visit to his museum. What a shame that your pictures didn't work out.
      Your comment about feeling much slimmer after visiting the exposition made me :)). I actually shared this feeling very much.

      Delete
  14. What an amazing adventure!! That food looks so good - especially that tropical granola.

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    1. Hi Ashley,
      The tropical fruit granola was really memorable and so was the whole trip of course. We did enjoy a lot.
      Cheers.

      Delete
  15. Great photos and love the post (especially the bright blue door and windows :D)

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  16. Thank you for bringing closer to me a city that is thousands of kilometers away from me! Beautiful photos and food!

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    1. Hi Katerina,
      my pleasure! Happy to hear that you enjoyed the tour.

      Delete
  17. My husband's aunt is from Bogota and I've always thought it would be a neat place to visit. It looks like you had a great time!

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  18. Wow,that's a great opportunity having some one from the country in your family.
    Hope you can make this visit one day. Cheers.

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  19. Great photos! Such a fun time you must have had. I've never been to Bogota, but would love to go. Just a fun read -- thanks.

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    1. Hi John,
      Happy to ther that you enjoyed the Tour!
      Cheers.

      Delete
  20. Daniela, if you had asked me if I would want to travel to Bogota before reading your post, I would have said no. It looks wonderful and so different from what I imagined. Thank you so much for letting me join you through your wonderful photos…now I want to plan a visit.

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    1. Hi Karen,
      It's so nice to hear that the little tour has given you a somehow different image
      about Bogotá . The country is very interesting and offers a huge diversity of
      regions, sights and culture.

      Delete
  21. Thank you so much for sharing all these pictures...I lived in Brazil for so ling, but never had a chance to visit Colombia...the food looks fabulous!
    Again, thanks for taking me along your adventure...enjoy the rest of your week Daniela :)

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    1. Hi Juliana,
      I rember you mentioning that you used to live in Brazil. And Colombia is just around the corner :)
      If you have a chance to visit once, I'm sure you would enjoy.

      Delete
  22. What a fun adventure! The pictures are excellent. The museum patio is beautiful & the food looks amazing - especially the granola and sandwich.

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  23. Wonderful food and interesting place!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  24. Hi Daniela, now this is a country I believe I could live, so much culture and adventure. the food looks amazing!

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    1. Hi Cherie,
      Thank you, happy to hear that you enjoyed the tour!

      Delete
  25. Ufff, tengo años sin ir a Bogotá, sin duda es una ciudad linda, llena de tradiciones y modernidades.

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    1. Hola Nydia,
      si tienes oportunidad de ir nuevamente lo vas a encontrar lindo, Bogotá ha evolucionado mucho.

      Delete
  26. I like the looks of Harry's Sasson restaurant- do they accept 'old' people, or just the young, rich and beautiful? If they do accept oldies, then that's the place for me!

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    1. Hi Fran,
      Your comment made me smile.
      Let me tell you that I don't fullfill any of the above mentioned expectations :)
      And yet- we had a great time a Harry's Sasson.

      Delete
  27. Bogota sounds fun and looks like you had a great time enjoying the sight scenes and food of this vibrant city.

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    1. Hi Taruna,
      yes we had a wonderful time and great fun. The only complain is that time passed to fast :)

      Delete
  28. I know so little about Colombia and Bogota (except what you read on the news) so thank you so much for this post. I've learned so much about it, I wanna go now!

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    1. Hi Mike,
      I'm happy I could help to change the image a bit, because news you read in the papers are usually very negative and that's by far not the whole picture.
      Cheers

      Delete
  29. How amazing. Looks like you had such a wonderful experience.

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  30. You took me on a lovely virtual tour. Looks like an amazing place. And all that delicious food:-)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Sonali,
      Happy that you could join me at this tour.
      Cheers

      Delete
  31. I enjoyed my trip to Bogota, through your eyes, Daniela! Thank you for taking me along! I enjoyed the "Mona Lisa" and seeing all the wonderful food that you sampled along the way. You must've had a wonderful time!
    Thank you for your congratulatory wishes on my new grand baby!

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  32. What an incredible adventure! My holidays are all about the food. I literally just travel to eat. Looks like we might have that in common a little bit eh :P I'm very jealous!x

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    1. Hi Cass,
      For sure we have a lot in common, as I can see you are a travel foodie as well :)
      Have a great day my friend!

      Delete
  33. Oh yum and WOW! I do hope you saved me a bit of those amazing sandwiches =)

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    1. Hi Angie,
      Of course I saved you some of these sandwhiches, they taste so much better when shared :)

      Delete
  34. How beautiful! I loved the colourful house and the courtyard with the pretty garden! It's sad that so many of these beautiful countries have such a bad image because of the labels that get assigned to them. I guess thats the world for you. Looks like a great city and living at 1680 meters, I can tell you a little about altitude sickness, especially when we go to visit the little mountain towns but I'm used to it now. Hope you are well!!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Nazneen,
      So happy you could join me at this tour and the best is: without suffering from altitude sickness:)
      Cheers

      Delete
  35. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us!

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    1. It's my pleasure, Joanne and traveling is so much nicer in good company!

      Delete
  36. we love reading your travel posts so much...get to learn about places and almost virtually travel through all those beautiful cities...and oh those culinary treats look gorgeous...thanks for sharing the joy and beauty of Bogota,it is beautiful :-)

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    1. Thank you so much my friends for joining me at this little tour.
      I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed our trip.Have a great week ahead.

      Delete
  37. Columbia is supposed to be a great place to travel right now and I can certainly see why! What a great trip and thanks for sharing with us, Daniela!

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  38. Hi Abbe,
    So happy to hear that you enjoyed the tour!
    Cheers

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  39. Thanks for taking me on a journey to Bogota. Your pictures are absolutely beautiful!

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  40. Hi Daniela, once again, thanks so much for taking us for an amazing tour of Bogota. All your excellent shots are already tempting me to add Colombia to my next-to-visit holidays itinerary. Glad that you enjoy your holidays. Have fun and warmest regards :)

    ReplyDelete

 
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