Colombia Part 11 - Visiting the typical colonial city of Salento

After spending time with Leticia at her ochids farm for one week, it was time for me to go on with my travels. My friend Kathi would come to Salento that weekend so I decided to join.

From Cali I took the bus to Armenia and from there another Mini Van to Salento Village, while Kathi was coming from Ibagué.

Salento is a Colombian municipality in the department of Quindío. Called the father of Quindío for being the oldest municipality in this department, it is known as the cradle of the National Tree "La Palma de Cera".

I met Kathi at the hostel for breakfast, and we were both happy to have the travel dream team back together, while we where updating each other about the past few days.

The area has a great variety of tourist attractions including the Valle de Cocora where you can find a landscape full of nature, spot birds like the Momotus momota, make ecological walks and enjoy the beautiful landscapes of this town.

According to an agreement of the Honorable City Council, it was taken as the date of foundation on January 5, 1842. Each year the traditional anniversary celebrations of its foundation are celebrated between the second and the twelve of January.

Architecture of Antioqueña:
This type of construction represents a pleasant, beautiful and homogeneous aspect, not only because of the unity of the urban complexes, but also because of the quality and good condition of the buildings. It is very typical to see houses with intense colors and large doors in very worked wood, windows of the same style and large balconies that protrudes from the front of them.

Walking to the main square you can already catch the friendly, peaceful vibe of this surprisingly clean but touristy village. Musicians are playing typical Colombian music on the street and people are walking down the street smiling.

Plaza de Bolívar:
As every city in latin america, Salento also has a playa mayor (=main square), where you can find all the important buildings like the church, the town hall, etc.
In the middle of the square you can find a monument of Simón Bolívar and another one of Pedro Vicente Henao, which was one of the founders of Salento.

Calle Real:
Along the street and on both sides there is a great variety of warehouses and craft workshops where wood, bamboo, natural fibers, fabrics and jewelery are exhibited, among others. In addition, in some places there are coffee-based food products and typical restaurants.

There are also some handcraft stores in some apartments, where you can buy products made of natural fibers and also admire the architecture. It is really interesting to go inside the stores, which sometimes are going 3 houses further in.

We used the time for shopping and a well deserved lunch before we started to climb the stairs at the end of the road.

Ecoparque el Mirador y Alto de la Cruz:
To reach the viewpoint and the high path of the cross there are two options: one climbing the Via Crucis, which is a set of stairs that make up 253 steps leading to the top of the cross and it has in its rest scenes of the way of Jesus towards the Calvary, and the other one is crossing the race 4 and it arrives towards the structure made in bamboo and fine wood, there is seen the Cocora valley and in a path towards the top of the cross you can see the town of Salento or another beauty of a natural forest where you can see birds, in addition to the viewpoint you can buy tourist material, typical products and sometimes listen to the sounds of the Andes live.

We decided to go the stairs just in the end of Calle Real.

Getting to the top you find a lot of food stands, more people selling hadcrafts and a swing.

It´s the top of a hill with view towards the National Park Los Nevados on one side and the town of Salento on the other.

Sitting on the swing with view of the city we enjoyed the lovely sunset, talking about life, before we went back down to the city center to have a drink before sleeping.

As always I hope you enjoyed reading my post and I am grateful for every Upvote, Resteem & Comment, as you are supporting my travels with it!

Cheers,
Liz

Colombia Part 1: Bogota D.C. - A city full of history and culture!

Colombia Part 2: Guatavita Lagoon, The Muisca Civilisation and The Legend of "El Dorado"

Colombia Part 3 - The Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá

Colombia Part 4 - Adventure time at the Natural Pools of Guejar River in the Jungle

Colombia Part 5 - Flying to Macarena National Park being a Copilot ✈

Colombia Part 6 - The Rainbow River at Macarena National Park

Colombia Part 7 - Riding Motor Bike and Chilling in the Pools of the Tatacoa Desert

Colombia Part 8 - Enjoying civilization in Cali!

Colombia Part 9 - Living with the president of the orchids club,helping her out at the green house

Colombia Part 10 - Hiking and Feeding Hummingbirds in the middle of the impressive Flora of Montanitas