After a leisurely breakfast we headed out to walk around the town. It's a small colonial town famous for its white facades, second only to Cartagena as Colombia's most impressive colonial settlement. It became the most important stopping point on the road between Cartagena and Quito. Despite its lovely appearance and numerous churches and monasteries, strangely, it's not a popular tourist destination. We wandered through the old town to Iglesia de San Francisco, the towns oldest colonial church. Sadly the roof of the church collapsed during an earthquake in 1983 killing hundreds of worshippers. We arrived to find it closed so continued on to Puente de la Custodia, a stone bridge built in 1713 to allow priests to cross the Rio Molino. About 160 years later the Puente del Humilladero was built alongside the old bridge. From here we headed to Iglesia La Ermita, Popayan's oldest church. It was closed! By now we were in serious need of caffeine and stopped at Cafe Madeira for refreshments. We made a few purchases at the local drug store and strolled back to the hotel through Parque Caldas to drop them off, just avoiding the rain shower. For lunch we headed to Mora Castilla, a very small cafe serving traditional foods. We shared champas and lulada to drink and empanaditas de pipian and patacon con queso to eat. Drinks and food were delicious. Afterwards we walked around more of the old town streets before deciding to try our luck and see if Iglesia de San Francisco was open. Luckily it was however there was a service on so unfortunately we weren't able to go on an organised tour around the church. Still it was good to at least see the interior from a distance. We went in search of a bar that apparently plays local music but couldn't find it, instead we stopped at a lively bar/pool hall and enjoyed a cold Club de Colombia whilst watching the Tour de France. We'd not seen many restaurants around the town and in the evening we decided to eat at the hotel restaurant, which had appeared to be quite busy yesterday. Tonight it was very quiet! The food was OK although they appeared to have run out of wine and had to pop to a paralliada across the road for 2 bottles of beer!
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| Iglesia de San Francisco |
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| Puente de la Custodia |
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| Puente del Humilladero |
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| In need of caffeine |
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| Parque Caldas |
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| The justice building by Parque Caldas |
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| Lunch |
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| Typical colonial street |
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| One of the towns many university buildings |
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| The clock tower |
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| Iglesia de San Jose opposite our hotel |
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