The capital city of Ecuador sits 2,800 metres above sea level and has a UNESCO listed historic centre. We only had 24 hours here, so what did we do?
First, we jumped in a taxi and headed 26km outside of the city to Mitad del Mundo, 'the Middle of the Earth'. There is a monument here that commemorates where the equatorial line was first determined in 1736, although it seems the calculations where a little off as there are actually 2 lines representing the equator - one of them calculated by a GPS! There are several small museums here, not just about the equator but about chocolate and beer too!
Next we headed to the Teleferico (cable car) which takes you up to the Cruz Loma viewpoint on Pinchincha volcano, a whopping 4,050 metres above sea level. The temperature in Quito was dramatically cooler than it had been in Colombia which was very welcomed! We went up simply to admire the views, but there are plenty of short hiking trails from the top.
Finally, we made our way to the Basilica de Voto Nacional, we climbed the towers for more stunning views over the city.
Коментарі