To wrap up my trip to Colombia, I spent two nights in the capital of Bogota. I’d heard mixed reviews of the city, a lot of travelers I’ve met didn’t like it too much, so I didn’t allocate too much time there. Overall I enjoyed my short time in Bogota, though didn’t get to see much!
I stayed in a hostel called El Pit, which was recommended to me by a girl I met in Medellin. The beds were comfortable and it was walking distance to everything I wanted to see as well as some great restaurants, but for some reason I didn't love the vibe there.
I arrived in the afternoon, and headed over to the Gold Museum. They had a free English tour that I was able to join about 10 minutes after it started- it was interesting, mainly for some of the history of Colombia than information about the gold. The museum was definitely worth a visit. For some reason I didn’t take any photos, but here’s a photo from Viator.com of one of the cool things- an intricate little boat.
I'd heard a lot of stories of people being mugged in Bogota, even in daylight, so I wasn’t very enthusiastic about taking a stroll at night, so I hung out at the hostel for a bit, and then went to a nearby restaurant called Ocio, a nice little place with good Colombian food. I was definitely pleasantly surprised by the good food in Bogota, everything I ate was delicious, which was not always the case in Colombia!
The following day, I went on a free graffiti tour - the guide was awesome, she is a street artist herself so told us a lot of interesting anecdotes. We mostly walked through the Candelaria area, and saw a lot of different styles of art.
After the tour I went to a French/Colombian restaurant recommended by the guide called Sant Just, where I, for once, had some healthy food!
After lunch I went up to Montserrat, a church waaaaay up on the mountain (over 9,000 feet above sea level). You take a little cable car up there, of course as soon as I got in it, I remembered that I’m terrified of heights, so spent the short ride staring at the back of someone’s head instead of looking out the window. The view from the top is really impressive, and you can see just how HUGE Bogota is. There isn’t actually too much up there- a couple of nice restaurants, and some souvenir stores so it was a quick visit.
Views from the top of Monserrat
I found a cute coffee shop called Varietale (which might be a chain?) where I enjoyed some tea and cake after my sightseeing. There were tons of students there, so it felt like a nice little local hangout. I walked back towards the Candelaria area, but it didn’t feel super safe, so headed back to the hostel.
Snacks at Varietale
For my last meal in Colombia, I ate at a Thai restaurant near my hostel called Takrai Thai (https://www.facebook.com/takraithaicuisine/), which was super tasty. Then, it was time to pack up to head to Argentina to meet up with a group of friends from New York!