Quito City Tour

QUITO CITY TOUR & EQUATOR LINE

(Price based on 2 passengers)

Quito, the capital of Ecuador, is one of the most beautiful cities in Ecuador. It is divided into the old or colonial city and the modern city. Colonial Quito is still reminiscent of how it was 450 years ago, even though it is but a small island surrounded on all sides by a fast-growing modern city.

In colonial Quito are narrow cobblestone streets lined with whitewashed walls over which the steeples and cupolas of historic churches and cathedral sites. The integrity of colonial Quito was assured in 1978 when the United Nations declared the city a World Cultural Heritage Site.

ITINERARY

At 9h00 our guide will pick you up at your hotel in order to go to the colonial site of Quito where you will walk through the Main Plaza. Visit the Government Palace, the Cathedral, and some of the most important churches built around the XVI and XVII centuries.

After this visit, you will have the chance to have lunch in a local restaurant. In the afternoon you will visit The Equator Line and some of the museums of the place. Late in the afternoon, you will return to Quito.

The Equator Line or Mitad del Mundo is located just 30 minutes north of Quito and is the monument that marks the closest point the equator passes to Quito. Archaeological evidence indicates both pre-Incan and Inca civilizations recognized and worshiped the path of the equator as the marker of the equinox.

More About Quito City:

Quito, the capital of Ecuador, was founded in the 16th century on the ruins of an Inca city and stands at an altitude of 2,850 m. Despite the 1917 earthquake, the city has the best-preserved, least-altered historic center in Latin America. The monasteries of San Francisco and Santo Domingo, and the Church and Jesuit College of La Compañía, with their rich interiors, are pure examples of the 'Baroque school of Quito', which is a fusion of Spanish, Italian, Moorish, Flemish, and indigenous art.

The city offers a remarkable example of the Baroque school of Quito (Escuela Quintana), which brings together the indigenous and European artistic traditions and is renowned for providing the greatest contribution of Spanish America to universal art.

The city of Quito forms a harmonious ensemble where nature and man are brought together to create a unique and transcendental work. The colonizers knew how to adapt their artistic sensibility to the reality that surrounded them, building their architecture in a very complex topographical environment.