Bogota has a population of nearly 8 million people. With the surrounding towns this goes up to 10 million. Bogota is amongst the 25 largest cities in the world, and is situated 2,640 meters above sea level. Also it is the second highest city for elevation in South America (highest is Quito).We have approximately two more weeks in Colombia before we cross into Ecuador.
Before going off onto tourist activity we needed to go to the laundry (lavanderia) to pick up our laundry. The bike clothes certainly look better having been washed at a laundry rather than in a sink.
Sue and I got a taxi to take us to the cable car to go up to the Monserrate monastery, at 3,152 metres above sea level. The ride with up in the cable car takes about 5 minutes and is pretty steep.
The cable car station (Photo credit: Sue’s blog)
The cable car to take us up to Monserrate
View of the city from the cable car
Not a fan of heights, so gripping on tight (Photo and caption credit: Sue’s blog)
We had decided beforehand to have lunch up there. When we got up there the first restaurant we went to was a fine dining French restaurant. We thought what the heck, tomorrow it is dirt roads and sandwiches, so we sat down to a delicious meal.
The French restaurant we went to on the left
The French restaurant at the top of the cable car
Sue and I at lunch
You can’t see in this photo as it was raining but about 5 minutes later the mist cleared and we had a glorious view of the city
We had French onion soup, and salmon. Sue had flambéed bananas for desert and I had creme brûlée – yum. We had a half bottle of sav blanc to go with it. Plus coffee. The cost was 125 pesos each, which is about 65 NZ 😀
With my delicious salmon meal (Photo credit: Sue’s camera)
The waiter about to flambé Sue’s banana desert at the restaurant
We then walked around the monastery for a while.
The monastery
View of city from Monserrate monastery
Overlooking Bogota (Photo credit: Sue’s blog)
We had to go to the toilets (banos) which costs 500 pesos and you get your own individual packet of toilet paper!
Sue with the little packet of toilet paper
We then caught the cable car back down and jumped in a cab to go to Bolívar Square which is part of the historical old town. However there was a protest going on and the first few roads were closed by policia. The taxi dropped us off as close as possible.
View of Bolivar square
In the square you could buy corn and feed it to the pigeons, and they will eat it out of your hand. We wandered back to the hotel looking at all the street stalls. We came across Rhonda coming out of the French bakery. I was looking at the cakes. There were some amazing looking little cheese cakes. Cheese cakes always make me think of my daughter Tracey, who loves cheese cake.
The little cheese cakes made me think of my daughter Tracey
Back to the hotel to download photos from the camera, then out for a quick small meal as I was still pretty full. Back to the hotel to catch up with the blog, pack, and get ready for another 6 days riding – and take one more hot shower.
We have to be downstairs with our bags by 5:30 am tomorrow, so a 4:45am start.
A cat having a snack at the bottom of the cable car
Kaye's Awesome Adventures 