Historic Lima's Pacific Coast
Lima, the capital of Peru, is one of the largest cities in South America. The colonial city is well preserved and the city is full of museums, churches and plazas.
Lima's historic center is famous for it's overhanging spanish colonial balconies. They were built in the 17th and 18th centuries and are located throughout the district.
The 16th century cathedral and Plaza de Armas are the center of the historic area. The Presidential Palace, museums, and government buildings are all located here. This is the area where we stayed during our visit to Lima. In order to see more of the city we decided to take a three hour driving tour of the city.
The plaza is the place to begin a free walking tour, see a parade of people celebrating Peru’s rich culture, or the board a bus for a tour through the city’s colorful neighborhoods, plazas, and Pacific Coast beaches.
We were able to get a great overview of the city from the top of a double decker bus. The bus ride became an adventure when we had to duck several times in order to avoid the low hanging telephone and electrical wires over the streets.
We learned that what isn’t visible above ground are the city’s famous ancient catacombs running below the streets. The vents for the catacombs can be seen along the streets.
The most famous of the colonial churches is the Church of San Francisco, which serves as the entrance to the catacombs. It is estimated that there are over 75,000 people buried under San Francisco alone. Many of the remains are exposed and stacked in strange patterns in circular pits.
For Ol and I, the upscale coastal district of Miraflores was our favorite area of the city. This is where we will stay when we visit the city again. A taxi to the historic center is only $11 soles or $3.50 USD. There are many price points for accommodations.
The Spanish town of Miraflores was established as a district in 1857 and today it is Lima’s affluent residential, shopping and tourist district. Filled with great hotels, restaurants and bars.
Miraflores is the place to explore Lima’s beautiful coastline, parks, and boardwalks. This is the place to ride bikes, watch the city’s surfers, hang gliders, or just sit on the big rocks and watch the crashing surf.
Miraflores has many ocean front restaurants to enjoy a pisco sour, ceviche, watch cliff drivers, and beautiful sunsets. With the cool pacific currents the weather is perfect year round.
Maybe it was the two pisco sours, the bottle of wine, the tasting menu or the feel of waves crashing under us, but our evening out in Miraflores was one of our favorite of our trip.
We didn’t want to leave the beach and stayed late into the night. We packed a lot into three days and two nights in Lima and both agreed that we will be back to rent an apartment for a much longer visit.