We spent some time in Quito Old Town before the "Quito and Middle of the World" tour with Gate1. It was a pleasant walk to the historic downtown from the basilica on our own. We encountered pick-pocketers on a rather quiet, hilly street leading to the old town. A young man threw some stuff on the back of Paul's shirt from behind to cause some commotion while his team member, a young woman tried to help out by pouring water to clean up. We knew something going on. They did not get anything from us. But we had a story to tell later at the hotel.
On our walk through the historic streets, we see beautiful churches, lively plazas and shops.
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| Venezuela, a main street in the old town. |
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| Our hotel (Viajero) in the historic Quito on the left with the balcony room facing the street. It's where we stayed when we came back from the Galapagos. |
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| Monument to the Heroes of Independence- Center of Plaza Grande |
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| Independence Plaza in historic old city of Quito |
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| Independence Plaza |
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| The Metropolitan Cathedral, one of the city's first catholic temples. |
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Government Palace area
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| Archibishop's Palace, shopping center in the Grand Plaza |
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| Morning walk to the Old Town Center |
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| El Sagradio Church |
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| The church's main portal |
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| High altar of La Iglesia de El Sagradio |
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| Inside El Sagradio Chruch |
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| The indeginous dancer in the historic city. |
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A busy pedestrian narrow street inside the city gate
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San Francisco Catholic Chruch, the first church in Quito
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| Inside San Francisco Church |
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| The underground of San Francisco Church - a gift shop |
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| The underground gift shop. |
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La Compania de Jesus Church or simply as La Compania. The facade of its main temple is carved in volcanic stone. It's one of the main tourist attractions in Old Town Quito.
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Leaving the UNESCO Heritage Site of the historic city Quito, the tour continued taking us to "Miltad del Mindo Monument" . We had a nice lunch next door to the monument.
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| View of the "Middle of the World" monument from our lunch table |
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| Lunch |
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| Our IPhone Compass shows we're at the middle of the world. |
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| At the monument |
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| The South side of the monument |
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| "Middle of the World" monument park |
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| My favorite Ecuadorian corn & potato soup |
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