Old town walking tour and the changing of the guard

Monday 22 August 2011

Today I did the old town walking tour recommended in the Lonely Planet guide book.  It started in the Plaza Grande at the cathedral (incredibly ornate, tons of gold, very OTT in my opinion!) and the presidential palace.  The square itself is not as nice as the one in Cuenca (in my opinion) but still pretty.  The presidential palace is also on the Plaza Grande and the changing of the guard takes place on Monday at 11am.  As I was there quite early, I did the first section of the our, visiting the Plaza and Monastery of San Francisco. The building of the monastery was started a few weeks after the founding of Quito in 1534, although it took 70 years to finish.  As with all religious buildings, it has scaffolding on it at the moment as the outside is being refurbished.  The inside of the monastery is just as ornate and full of gold as the cathedral.  I then headed along to the La Ronda, a large square which is also being renovated.

From there I headed back to the Plaza Grande to secure a good spot for the changing of the guard.  It's quite a long and grand ceremony involving the singing of the national anthem, a military band, the closing of almost the entire plaza, a large police presence and armed soldiers as the president himself is present for it.  I'm not sure I can see the Queen agreeing to be present for the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace!  I had a good spot and I hope I got some good photographs of it.  It lasted about 20 minutes, and the whole ritual ill be repeated at the same time next Monday.

From there I head to the Plaza del Teatro and up a very steep hill to the Basílica del Voto Nacional.  This building towers of the city and can be seen from almost all over the city.  Instead of traditional gargoyles, it has turtles and iguanas protruding from it.  From there it was down a very steep hill to Plaza San Blas (full of traffic) and Parque La Alameda.  Like the park yesterday it also has a man-made lake with bridges, islands, fountains, pedalos and rowing boats.  The park also house the observatory.

Then there was a not so nice stretch along a main road to Parque El Ejido.  It has a large artisanal market in it which I  had a look at.  A lot of the stands were selling similar things, but the sellers were very polite and didn't pounce on me the minute I looked in their direction!  This is quite unusual in South America!  And that was the end of the tour.  Photographs of the old town to follow!

Lx