QUITO, Ecuador's capital city offers a mix of colonial history and modern city, making it a city in the world of fun for tourists, including you. The following is a summary of the major tourist attractions in Quito, Ecuador are scattered in several areas. Some of them may be you can enjoy while on vacation to Ecuador.
1. Old Town area (old town)
When on vacation in Quito, most visitors concentrate on the Old Town. Here you will find the city laid out according to the needs of the Spanish plan, the Central Plaza at the heart of community activities.
Central Plaza adjacent to the Palacio de Gobierno, which is a cathedral and religious buildings as well as the Palacio Presidencial. Palacio de Gobierno is the oldest cathedral in South America and has been repaired many times due to damage caused by the earthquake. This cathedral is also a burial place for heroes of independence and several presidents.
2. Iglesia de San Francisco
The oldest colonial building in Quito is home to a collection of paintings, art, and furniture from the Museo Franciscano (Franciscano museum). Built by the Franciscan priest in 1536, Iglesia de San Francisco is the first church built in America.
In it, you'll find the first example of a whole new world of interior covered with gold-plated and painted wood. While the main altar there is a statue of Bernardo de Legarda of the 18 titled Virgin of the Apocalypse of the Immaculate Conception.
3. Colonial Houses
Most of the colonial houses that are composed of a sun-dried brick built around an enclosed patio. To see the best houses are preserved complete with traditional balcony, you can come to a gang called La Ronda or Juan de Dios Morales. Several open houses during the day and sell crafts souvenirs.
Here, you can tour two historic homes, Casa de Benalcazar (founder of the house) and the Casa de Sucre, a house where the Field Marshall Antonio Jose de Sucre de, a Latin American independence war hero ever lived.
4. Mitad del Mundo
Mitad del Mundo is a plot of land owned by the prefecture of Pichincha Province, Ecuador, which lies north of the center of Quito.
There is also a Museum Etnogrà ¡Mitad del Mundo FICO, a museum about the indigenous ethnography of Ecuador. You can also see the 30-meter-high monument was built between 1979-1982. This monument was built to mark the point where the equator pass through the country in the geodetic datum used in Ecuador at that time.
5. Market at Otavalo and Cotacachi
Visits from Quito to Otavalo and Cotacachi town market is more than just a shopping trip. Here you can find everything from home furnishings, food, clothing, meat, handicrafts and textiles, Panama hats (yes, they are made in Ecuador), fine leather goods, toys and more.
6. Cotopaxi National Park
In the southern part of Quito precisely in the valley of the volcano, you will find the Cotopaxi National Park has a climate that varies between 12-17 degrees Celsius. Cotopaxi National Park has a 33 393 hectare area that is home to 200 species of plants. This area is also home to animals such as cougars, marsupial mice, llamas, Andean fox, deer and birds.
There is also a second gungung highest in Ecuador, Mount Cotopaxi which has a height of 19 400 feet. The mountain is a favorite of mountain climbers and hikers.
7. Things to do Oriente
Oriente is a region in the eastern slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes and consists of areas of lowland rainforest in the Amazon basin. Oriente has an area of about 130,000 square kilometers of tropical forest to protect the little that has been explored by a small portion of Ecuador's population living in villages along the river.
8. Virgin of the Americas
Statue of the Virgin Mary standing on a hill overlooking Quito, at the Mirador de Panecillo to decorate the panorama of the city. Aluminum sculpture that is visible from most of the city and has a height of 41 meters was established in 1976. When looking at this statue, you will see the angel wings, an unusual feature on the statues of the Virgin Mary.
9. Relaxing in the park
When to Ecuador, you do not forget to relax in the city parks are spread across several regions. First, you get to the Parque Metropolitano, the largest urban park in South America. Here you can perform activities of biking, walking, running, saw the statue, and a picnic.
Or playing soccer, volleyball, kite and a walk in the garden of La Carolina. You also can rent a rowboat at Park La Alameda Park which is also the location of the oldest astronomical observatory in South America. But to see a variety of crafts and art come to El Ejido.
10. Quito Zoo
Quito Zoo located in the northern city exactly in Pichincha, Guayllabamba, has the largest collection of native fauna of Ecuador. Here, you can see 45 species of native fauna of different regions in Ecuador, ranging from paramos to tropical rain forests in the Amazon jungle and the coast and islands of the Galapagos.
In this zoo you can see jaguars, bears, wolves moor, monkeys, squirrels, pigs, puma and so on. There are also 21 species of birds including colorful macaws, parrots, eagles, toucans and many more. There is also Eagle Andes which is the largest flying bird in the world. For reptiles, here are the Galapagos tortoises are long-lived.
Quito Zoo is open every Tuesday-Friday from 9:00 to 17:00 pm local time, while on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays open from 9:30 to 17:00 pm local time.
