TOP COLOMBIA TIPS

Jump on the GPS Tour. By: Néstor Meléndez Bogotá, the capital of Colombia , is a wonderful city to walk, the temperature, not too cold or not too hot makes it a perfect place to go around on a tour. Technology has made now available the self guided tours, using mobile devices and GPS features on them. A new route in Bogotá has just been published on Voicemap, an APP that offers tours made by local storytellers that make the traditional tours a thing of the past. The just released tour is the, TRADITIONAL BOGOTÁ, in which the tourist goes from the colonial part of the city to the modern part of it, cruising thru years of history. There are places that only a local can recommend, like the Café Pasaje, an old coffee shop, where the bogotanos have had their coffee since many years ago. Or the Pastelería Florida, where you can get a delicious chocolate and tamál, a mixture that has been sold in that place for decades. The GPS tours, are a new trend in the...

GPS AUDIO-TOURS: A NEW WAY TO DISCOVER BOGOTÁ AND COLOMBIA. By: Néstor Meléndez When you travel you have many ways to better know and understand the city or place you are visiting. Usually, people has some options to do this, one of them is the traditional tour, you do it with some other tourists, and you have to go following a tour conductor that gives you general description of the places you are visiting. The stops or breaks are predetermined, and you have to deal with hanging out with people, that the only thing they have in common, is that they are tourists. Usually, this  tours are in budget, but they are not cheap, and for some people can be boring, or they just don’t like them.    The other option is to take a personal tour, but it is an expensive option. You can also study the location you will visit, and read the brochures, reviews and other literature and then adventure yourself into a city or place you don’t know, with no local l...

TOURS COLOMBIA THE PLAZA DE BOLÍVAR A MUST SEE LOCATION IN BOGOTÁ: By: Néstor Meléndez Long ago, before the Spanish conquistadores came to the new world, this was the land of the Muiscas. They lived in this area and practiced salt mining, agriculture, hunting and fishing. This is the place that Gonzalo Jiménez de Quezada , chose to found Santafe de Bogotá in 1538. It had plenty of water and vegetation and was an extended plain guarded by the mountains. For Spanish standards it was a perfect location to found a settlement. The Cathedral of Bogotá, La Catedral Primada was designed by Domingo de Petrés and built between 1807 and 1823. It was built on the grounds of 3 other churches that also served as cathedrals. The last one was brought down by an earthquake that shook the city on 1785. The actual construction has a neoclassical style. This is the most important church of Colombia and is where the most significant Catholic celebrations of the country are held.There w...

Colombia, a new place to visit: By: Néstor Meléndez                                              Located in the center of the Americas, Colombia is turning to be one of the hottest tourist destinations of the world for the years to come. And it is not just a promotion or publicity strategy, but it is because, this country offers  so many different places with multiple climates to visit, that even Colombians  amazed themselves when travelling around. This South-American country has coasts over the Caribbean and the Pacific seas. Has three mountain ranges that are part of the Andes. A huge part of the Amazon tropical forest is also here and a vast plain called los Llanos is part of this exuberant place on earth. It is the second ranked bi...

CARTAGENA, A MAGIC CITY YOU HAVE TO VISIT: Cartagena is the most important touristic city of Colombia, but it is not only because of the beaches and the tropical temperature you enjoy all year round, but because all of the history you can find when you walk by the streets of the charming old town, built by the Spanish conquistadores since the 16 th century. Cartagena was one of the ports in the Caribbean, where the gold and the richness of the America were consolidated before taking the long and dangerous trip to Spain. Those were the times of the pirates of the Caribbean, who assaulted and sieged the cities that guarded the treasures. Therefore in Cartagena the defenses were very strong, fortified walls surround the port city, strategic fortifications were built to protect it and underwater traps were settled to damage the enemy ships that did´nt have the navigation cards to surpass them. To walk the walled city is an adventure, you will feel the sens...

BOGOTÁ, FROM THE OLD TOWN TO DOWNTOWN: If you come to Bogotá, Colombia, you will find a vibrant city that is, for sure, going to surprise you. And it is said, because this metropolis lived by more  than 9 million people is a place on earth you would like to know if you are interested in history and want to see how this elevated location, up on the Andes mountains, is one of the most important and modern developed cities of the Americas.  The Muiscas, were the natives that lived here before the Spaniard conquistadores, came to this extended plain. They had a very good life over here; the salt mines of Zipaquira, and a very fertile land, made this a hot  trading place, where other tribes came to exchange products for the salt and the produce. The payment for the commodity could be fish or hunt, or tropical fruits and vegetables, but also they paid for it in the form of gold artifacts. This is why all the natives from many regions pointed to the conquistadores thi...