Lima is a real jewelry box, but no tourist life is enough to review them all. Therefore, travelers first of all seek to see the most iconic places – the famous historical center of the city, the heritage left by the Indians and representatives of the Lima culture, and… the Pacific Ocean. By the way, you can start with the latter, but then you may not want to go anywhere else at all. It is best to admire it in the Miraflores area and at sunset (or at sunrise, if you can). Check bridgat for other cities and countries as well as climate and weather in South America.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites are centered around Plaza Mayor de Lima, the central square of the city: the fantastic carved Archbishop’s Palace, the oldest Aliaga House in Lima, which is still owned by the same family, the Government Palace, where the changing of the guard takes place, and the Torre Taglie Palace built 18 century.
Most of the buildings of the historic center are decorated with very beautiful balconies. Because of this, Lima was even nicknamed the city of balconies.
The religious heritage of the capital of Peru also “surrounds” Plaza Mayor. The pearls of the collection are the Cathedral (Jiron Carabaya, Cercado de Lima), where the ashes of the founder of Lima Francisco Pizarro are kept, and the monastery of St. Francis (Jiron Lampa, Cercado de Lima) located two blocks away – its gloomy glory is made up of intricate catacombs. There are “fragments” of the most ancient civilization right in the city, the main one is an unusual pyramid of 500 AD. e. Huaca Puclana (cuadra S/n, Calle General Borgono 8, Miraflores) in Miraflores. The majestic temple of Pachacamac is located 40 km from Lima.
A “date with modernity” will be arranged for everyone by the Water Magic fountain complex (Puerta 5, Parque de la Reserva, Av. Petit Thouars, Cercado de Lima) and the brightest district of Lima – Barranco, chosen by poets, artists and other bohemians.
Museums in Lima
The expositions of the National Museum of History (Av. Javier Prado Este 2465) will tell about the life and history of the country, the secrets of the 500-year-old art of Peru, from pre-Inca civilizations to the present day, hide the National Museum of Peruvian Culture (Avenida Alfonso Ugarte 650) and the Ethnographic Museum (Jirón Callao 562).
Amazing examples of ceramics and fabrics are on display at the Rafael Larco Herrera National Archaeological Museum (Av. Simon Bolivar 1515, Pueblo Libre 15084). Ancient tapestries still retain their amazing freshness of colors, and the “ceramic encyclopedia of sex” to this day has no analogues in the world.
The Museum of Art of Lima (Parque de la Exposicion, Paseo Colon 125) will provide an opportunity to look at the work of contemporary Peruvian artists. And the Museum of Gold (Jr Alonso de Molina 1100), which is strictly obligatory for visiting, will practically prove that the skill of the Inca goldsmiths is still out of reach even for advanced European jewelers.
- Lima Map
Night life
The capital of Peru was created for romantic night walks and discos until the morning (we remember about safe areas). Kissing under the moon is best on the Pacific coast or at the Bridge of Sighs on Jr. Batallon, Ayacucho 271 in Barranco. You can hang out in the same area in the mega-popular club La Pena del Carajo on Catalino Miranda 158. Or you can go to Miraflores and light it up in the awesome Cocodrilo Verde (Francisco de Paula Camino 226), Disco Dolce Vita (Berlin 231) and Bizarro (Francisco de Paula Camino 220).
There are a lot of casinos in Lima, and the nightlife is most active from Thursday to Sunday morning.
5 things to do in Lima
- It’s great to take a walk at the annual big celebration in honor of the anniversary of the founding of Lima on January 18th.
- Visit the Church of Nazarene to make sure that the Christ depicted in it is black.
- Walk barefoot along the Alameda de los Descalzos street, whose name means “Street of the Barefoot” in translation. At the end of it is the monastery of the Franciscans, who vowed to walk barefoot for the glory of the Lord.
- Visit the inconspicuous yellow building La Casa Matusita in the center of Lima, at the intersection of Garcilas de la Vega and Spanish streets, famous for the fact that ghosts periodically arrange a promenade along its corridors. Rumor has it that once a dinner party in this house turned into a massacre after the guests took hallucinogens. Since then, the probability of getting mentally traumatized while being there is very high.
- Take a picture hugging a large, but, unfortunately, not fluffy copper statue of Winnie the Pooh in the very center of Lima.
Weather
The main climatic feature of Lima is that surrounded by sands and bare stones on all sides, it rarely sees direct sunlight, which hardly breaks through the constant haze of gray fog. Regularly the earth is covered with “garua” – water dust, fine and lightweight, almost imperceptible. It doesn’t rain in the city for years.
The most comfortable here is the calendar winter – from December to March. February shows the highest water and air temperatures, and the nights are so warm this month that it is quite possible to do without a jacket. From April to November, the temperature outside begins to decline steadily and reaches a minimum in August.
