We wanted to use Quito as a short stop on our way to The Galapagos, but destiny had other plans. We ended up staying 5 nights, we could do worse.
As said we wanted to fly as soon as possible to the Galapagos, but we ran into some difficulties with cruises, flights and so on. What did we do? We spent the entire first day and half of the second in search of cruises and flights for Galapagos. After we settled this we explored the city and its surroundings. The best thing are the buses – 50 cents and you can change as often as you like. Doing it this way we visited Mitad del Mundo (the centre of the world). This is the most visited tourist spot in Ecuador. It is a visitor’s centre where the ecuator is marked. Museum, planetarium, experimetns are also there. It is a good way spend a few hours, but remember it is a good hour north of Quito.
Quito has a wonderful historic part of town, with lots of colonial buildings, amazing churches and restaruants with »menu del dia« from 3$ on. We also visited the viewpoint from where you can see »casi todo Quito« (almost whole of Quito). That was true, the viewpoint is just a short taxi ride uphill and you get amazing views from it.
The only downside of Quito (as most of cities in South America) that you are constantly reminded how dangerous it is (2nd place, right after Lima). But luckily we didn’t experience that and everyone was helpful and very friendly, we even taught a gentleman some slovene words on the bus. When he left he demonstrated his acquired knowledge with fluent Slovene: »Adijo« he said. 🙂
What we noticed in Quito is that the people are very proud of their national football and we could brag that we went to their game in Buenos Aires and we immediatelly scored extra points.
We didn’t really expect anything from Quito, because we weren’t planning on spending much time there, but in hindsight – Quito was surprisingly OK. The best way to visit it is, if you can look forward to an amazing cruise in the Galapagos. Next time. 🙂
sLOVEnians travel 