Lima, Peru

Lima is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. With a population fast approaching 9 million, Lima is the fifth largest city in Latin America.

Lima was founded by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro on January 18, 1535, as La Ciudad de los Reyes. It became the capital and most important city in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru. After the Peruvian War of Independence, it became the capital of the Republic of Peru. Today, around one-third of the Peruvian population lives in the metropolitan area.

We stayed in the seaside suburb of Miraflores in the Hotel Antigua Miraflores, and ventured into the city centre by their rapid transit system

A walk round Miraflores takes in the seafront with the Parque del Amor, Parque Kennedy, Laromar Shopping centre. And late in the day we had a coffee in the Larcomar centre and watched the para-gliders taking advantage of the thermals towards dusk. Then a hike down the cliff to take a sundowner in the pavilion at the end of the pier at La Rosa Nautica.


Parque del Amor, on the sea ..	..complete with art deco seats.	"To talk to God you do not need a mobile phone"	Anyone can play the piano here.

The front at Miraflores	Larcomar Shopping Mall	We walked over the bridge.	The church on Kennedy Park

As dusk fell, lots of para-gliders	filled the sky along the cliffs.	We went down to this pier to ..	..enjoy a sundowner.

From Miraflores to the city centre by Bus Rapid Transit, which was a very cheap way of getting round Lima. BRT is a sort of metro in buses running in dedicated bus lanes. You buy the equivalent of an London Oyster Card, and use it to swipe your way onto the system. One price no matter how far you travel. The buses run from special stations in the centre of the road, and initially we had difficulty finding our way to a station. It was very crowded going into the centre, but better coming back.

And this is where the bus took us to, the city centre of Lima. Not much left of old colonial houses, either the developers or the earthquakes got most of them. Anyway we walked up to the Plaza des Armas, and around the streets there.


Lima Cathedral is all you would .	..expect from a colonial city.	The Plaza del Armas is well ..	..preserved and reasonably well ..

..protected from development.	Various parliamentary buildings .	.had heavy police protection with	.armoured cars and heavy guns.

There was a selection of nice ..	..and interesting buildings. Even a	few old colonial buildings and the	inevitable military statues

Doors seemed to be a particular specialty of Lima, with both the old and the new being very elaborate.

We left Lima by bus. The bus station is on the edge of this large city, so is quite a long way from the central area.


Peru flag	Miraflores suburb	Hotel Antigua Miraflores	Hotel interior