Quito

It took me half a day to start liking Quito. But then I started discovering the gems in the historical center. Quito has about 2,3 million inhabitants and the city is huge, stretched in a valley. Besides the historical center and the neighborhood of Mariscal Quito is quite ugly, at least as far as I saw it.

Quito's historical center has some very beautiful buildings. this one is a cultural center and library. Notice the very special trees here. It must be some kind of palm tree.

Let me take you for a little stroll through Quito's historical center. Here, the white, is part of the cathedral. Next to it another church. There are so many churches in the center.

The most beautiful of them, and one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen is the compania de Jesus. It is not allowed to take pictures inside, so I just took some from the door from outside. It is a baroque church, inside all covered with gold and with beautiful works of art. 

That's what it looks like from outside.

the entrance:

and a sneak inside with my zoom.

I was very lucky to find out that there was to be there a concert on February 27 in the evening so I went there at 7:15. I thought I was much too early and there were already about 150 persons waiting in a row to get in. I was lucky that I got a place to sit. The concert was beautiful. A  violinist from Venezuela, Angelica Olivo, played as a solist in the concert for violin and orchestra in re menor op. 47 from Sibelius. Then the orchestra played theSinfonie  fantastica op. 14  from Berlioz. 

and here a better view of the church from outside. 

here the main plazza with the cathedral

Many streets are extremely steep, as you can see here

On the plaza Mayor is the presidential palace and the now president, Rafael Correa, opened the palace for visitors, saying it belonged to the people of Ecuador, not only the president. You can make a guided tour inside and it is beautiful. 

Two men are guarding the palace from outside

and when you go in, it's like the control at the airport, they x-ray all your belongings before they let you in.

and the palace from inside: the president was having some meeting when we came, so the door of the meeting room was again well guarded

This is the room for banquetes

and here is where the cabinet meets

and that's me on the balcony of the palace, in the background the main plaza.

They showed us presents that the president received from many countries. This one from Indonesia is especially beautiful. 

and that's me with the president's dogs. They were playing in the garden. 

Quito is surrounded by mountains. You can see some from the main plaza. 

The highest one is the volcano Pechincha , 4794 m. high, where you can go up with a cable car up to about 4060 m. and from there , there are many beautiful trails to hike. But this in my next post.

Have a good night